


Year One

by canadiankazz



Category: Vampire: The Masquerade, Vampire: The Masquerade - L.A. By Night (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst and Feels, Blood Drinking, Blood Magic, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Car Accidents, Explicit Language, F/M, Gen, Imprisonment, Jasper also has very questionable morals, Jasper gets himself injured doing foolish and exciting things, Lost Love, Murder, Non-Consensual Blood Drinking, Nosferatu (Vampire: The Masquerade), Panic Attacks, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Suicidal Thoughts, Vampires, Violence, very much AU now that canon lore has been dropped, we might never find out what happened so here's what I think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-04-07 18:24:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 46,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19090603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canadiankazz/pseuds/canadiankazz
Summary: In November 2013, Jasper Heartwood was embraced as a Nosferatu. This is a story of his first year as a vampire, month by month.





	1. November

**Author's Note:**

> We might never know what really happened to Jasper in his first year as a vampire, but here's what I think _might_ have happened. There's going to be a lot of angst and violence, and most of this will probably get proven to be false. That's okay. This is fanfiction. Enjoy.
> 
>  ~~Even though he might never read it,~~ I dedicate this to Alex Ward, for creating such an interesting, complex, and amazing character. I hope I've done him justice.
> 
> EDIT: Alex Ward has read this fic and he not only enjoyed it, but he's encouraged all his fans to read it. omg. See the comments for details!
> 
> All my love and thanks to the vamily, the cast and crew of L.A. by Night, and my coterie. Thanks to Milk for some ideas and feedback early on, and to Lisa in particular for helping me edit this fic, and for general constant support.

Jasper Heartwood's last day alive had been uneventful. It was just an average Tuesday at Griffith College. It was getting chilly in mid-November. Dead leaves blew across the college grounds and students bustled about in coats and scarves, nursing their steaming cups of organic coffee and cocoa. The ones who had travelled there from Northern states would loudly tell anyone who would listen that “this wasn't cold!” Halloween was over, Jasper's favourite time of the year, and most people's minds were headed towards Thanksgiving or Christmas.

This particular Tuesday, Jasper had taken the day off work at the costume shop because it was getting to crunch time in regards to assignments and exams. He much preferred the stress of finals to the craziness that was working in a costume store around Halloween. It also meant that, for once, he didn't have to deal with the guys who were running a drug business out the back of the store. Jasper had finished and handed in one assignment and worked on another that was due later in the week. He and his girlfriend, Chloe, were organising a game night with some of her friends for the weekend. Everyone was talking about going away for Thanksgiving. Jasper wasn't going home and neither was Chloe. They were going to have it together watching bad movies and enjoying the fact that they could spend all day in bed. Jasper was deeply looking forward to it.

He considered himself lucky. True, life wasn't perfect. It never was. Jasper wasn't in much contact with his family. They didn't approve of most of his activities or interests, being fairly strict, no-nonsense parents. His very religious grandparents were particularly mad that Jasper was into the occult, and had wanted to burn his books. They hadn't called to invite him home to Thanksgiving yet, but he already planned to tell them no if they did.

Jasper also kept himself apart from most of the other students, finding most of their interests to be extremely tedious. It wasn't that Jasper thought he was better than them, no, it's just that they thought his interests were beneath them. That was fine. He was used to being the spooky loner. Jasper had been the kid to spend recess and lunch in the library at primary school, reading every book on the shelf, even the ones the teachers thought were too advanced for him. When he was eight, he had stolen his library's copy of the _'Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark'_ trilogy by Alvin Schwartz, the ones with the illustrations that made most of the other kids scream and shiver, but Jasper found fascinating, even beautiful. He still had them somewhere in his collection.

Jasper was enjoying college now, for the most part. He was working and saving money. It wasn’t a lot, and he wanted to quit, but it was something, at least. More than that, Jasper was in love. He had been considered too 'weird' for most people to date. Jasper had never been one of the jocks or movie stars typical of most Californian stock. Chloe didn't care about that. Chloe liked that he was weird, tall and gangly. She thought he was handsome, even when he was lounging in all black sweats. She loved his dark, intelligent eyes, his soft smile that could turn so wicked when he was being sassy or mischievous, and his wiry muscles. He would pick her up when he kissed her and they would twirl around sometimes, like a couple out of an old movie. Jasper wasn't sure what he had done to deserve the affection and attention of the smart, beautiful redhead, but he was grateful.

They had been dating for almost a year and a half. Chloe had been the one to approach him first, much to his genuine surprise. Jasper had seen her around, of course, and thought she was beautiful, but also way beyond his league. Little did he know she had been nursing a crush on him for weeks before she had worked up the courage to introduce herself to him. He had said yes to a coffee date, and they ended up staying up all night talking about everything. He discovered she had a spooky side that her friends thought was ridiculous. Jasper, on the other hand, was more than happy to indulge her in that. A year and a half later, and they were still together. They would game together, each as competitive as the other. He wrote her cards and poems, “just because.” She would rub his back and massage his scalp as they lay in bed. More often than not, he would fall asleep with his head in her lap, his long legs curled up into a ball.

Jasper's last day alive ended peacefully with a few text messages back and forth to his girlfriend. Normally, he would have stayed up late, being naturally more of a night owl, but his brain hurt from staring at a screen and textbooks all day and he decided to get an early night for once. By the time midnight rolled around, turning Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, Jasper was sound asleep, alone in bed. Chloe was working late, cramming for a journalism exam.

He didn't hear his window open, nor the sound of feet crossing the floor. The cold wind blew in through the window, making Jasper roll over in his sleep and pull the blankets up. In that brief moment of wakefulness, he became aware of a huge, hulking shadow in his room and the stench of death. Adrenaline shot through him, waking him up fully. Jasper tried to sit up, to blindly grab for something, anything to defend himself with with. It was all in vain. The stranger was a lot faster and stronger than Jasper was.

Jasper felt a massive, foul, deathly-cold hand wrap itself around his head and _lift_ him up out of bed. He struggled, grasping at the arm attached to the hand, trying to kick and failing to connect. He was lifted upwards by his head, the fingers over his face. In his panic, one clear thought seeped through Jasper's brain. _How was this even possible, for someone to lift a grown man like this?_ Jasper wanted to scream out loud, but his mouth was covered so he could only make muffled cries.

He felt another hand close itself around his upper arm, pinning it to the side of his body. There was a soft, but disturbing growl in his ear and he realised how exposed his neck was. His screams were stifled. He could not break free. No one would save him.

A mouthful of sharp fangs, like a man-sized shark, bit hard and deep into Jasper's throat. He continued to scream and thrash, but he could feel the monster sucking and drinking and he could feel the fight leave his body. He became light-headed. His limbs got heavy. His heartbeat, which had been flying in a blind panic, slowed as his blood pressure dropped dangerously low.

 _This is it..._ he thought numbly. _This is it..._

_No..._

_Please... no..._

_I don't want to die..._

_Someone help me..._

_Chloe..._

Mostly unconscious from blood loss, Jasper was dimly aware of his body being moved. He was being carried out the window. Cold air hit his skin again. He had only worn an old black T-shirt and boxers to bed. His vision was blurry. His breath was shallow. His pulse was weak. He was being brought somewhere he did not know. He slipped in and out of consciousness, trying and failing to keep awake. After what felt to him like forever, the moving stopped and Jasper was dropped to the cold ground. He had no idea where he was.

Something cold and wet hit Jasper's mouth and landed against his teeth and tongue. More and more of the fluid, whatever it was, dripped onto him, into him. It tasted good, and also awful at the same time.

Jasper swallowed on instinct.

More of it flowed.

He swallowed again.

And a third time.

His heart stopped.

His brain, deprived of oxygen, finally gave up and Jasper lost consciousness.

* * *

Jasper did not know where he was when he woke up.

He was in pain. Every part of his body, it seemed, was in agony. His limbs and joints ached, his head throbbed, his neck stung.

But worst of all, was this gnawing, gnashing, starving, emptiness deep inside him. It was like he had a wild zoo animal trapped inside and it was ripping him apart.

He was aware of something sharp in his mouth. He gingerly felt around with his tongue. His teeth were pointed. His incisors had grown.

God, he was so HUNGRY!

As his vision focused and he got used to the darkness, he was aware of the scent of shit and piss, of used needles and condoms littering a corner. Two cockroaches, attached ass-to-ass, skittered across the filthy floor in front of him.

With a groan and an inhuman snarl, Jasper got to his feet. He looked around and realised he was in an abandoned bathroom stall. There were no windows. One of the hinges of the stall door was broken, making it lean at a bad angle. Jasper pushed the door open and emerged.

He felt... wrong. Beyond the antagonising hunger inside him, everything felt _wrong_. His hands shook, and when he looked at them, he saw how deathly pale his skin had become. He felt his face and realised he lad lost the hair on his head, leaving his scalp bald and dry to the touch. His cheeks felt more gaunt than normal. He had dried blood on his clothes. There was no mirror in this bathroom, so he had no idea what he looked like, but if it was any reflection as to how he felt, it was awful.

He. Was. Starving.

Jasper couldn’t remember how he had gotten here. He was in the shirt and boxers he had fallen asleep in. Did he sleep walk? He never had done that before. He felt cold, chilled to the bone, but disturbingly, his body didn't shiver. Was he still asleep now? This felt like a hyper-realistic, horrible dream.

He had never been this hungry in a dream before.

Jasper growled to himself, and blinked at the sound that had come out of him. He had never made a sound quite like that before. Sure, when he was angry or in a playful mood he might have growled a little, but it had never sounded quite so... _bestial_.

Jasper stumbled outside into the cold November night. He walked, trying to get his bearings, feeling like his movements were not his own. He stuck to the shadows, avoiding streetlights. He still didn't know where he was. All he knew was he needed to eat or drink or find _something_ to fill his stomach. The hunger hurt him.

Jasper paused, hearing a noise. It was a snore. He peeked around the corner of a building and saw a man sleeping on a bench. A shopping cart full of clothing was parked by his side. Jasper approached quietly. He felt bad about waking him, but maybe he could at least tell him where in L.A. he was, and maybe where he could get something to eat.

He poked the man's shoulder and he woke with a start.

“Sorry-” Jasper began, surprised at how rough his voice sounded.

Jasper didn't get any further than that. The man stared at him, eyes wide and full of horror, and he screamed.“What the fuck? Oh my God!” He tried to jump up and scramble away, but he stumbled into his shopping cart and knocked it over. Man, cart and clothes went sprawling across the pavement. The man scraped his palms against the rough concrete, but didn't seem to notice. He kept screaming at Jasper and trying to get away, fumbling for something in his jacket.

The scent of blood hit Jasper's nose.

His eyes went wide and his lip curled.

 _"Yes..._ ” hissed a voice inside of him. “ _That's what we need... GET HIM!_ ”

Jasper moved, vaulting the bench in a single leap and landing on the man with a dangerous, inhuman growl. The man screamed again and thrust his hands upwards into Jasper's chest, trying to push him away. Normally, Jasper would have been sent sprawling, but he didn't move this time. He opened his mouth wide and attacked on some pure, bestial instinct. His fangs sunk into the screaming man's throat and the screaming stopped.

Hot, fresh blood filled Jasper's mouth.

He swallowed and drank and swallowed again, feeding greedily. The gnawing emptiness inside of him that he had felt since waking filled and something else seemed to purr in delight, pleasure and satisfaction.

It was the most _wonderful_ feeling.

He could taste the man's fear. He didn't know fear had a taste before now.

He could also feel the man's racing heart get slower and slower.

“ _Finish it all..._ ” hissed that voice inside him.

 _Finish all of what?_ Jasper wondered.

Then he realised what the fuck he was doing and pulled back.

He man lay on the street among his spilled cart of clothing. He wasn't moving and his eyes were closed. Blood oozed slowly from a horrible wound in his neck. Jasper couldn’t tell if he was dead or not.

“No...” he said softly. “No... no... what the fuck?”

This _had_ to be a nightmare. No _way_ this was real. He would wake, shaking, in bed next to Chloe and he would hug her and she would soothe him and everything would be alright.

Jasper felt a pain in his chest and looked down. A knife handle was stuck between his ribs. The man had stabbed him in a desperate bid of self-defence and Jasper had only just noticed it. What's more, he knew a wound like that should sent him to hospital at the very least and the morgue at the very most, but he felt okay. It didn't even hurt to breathe.

Wait...

He wasn't breathing.

He hadn't been breathing for a long time.

His body didn't seem to _need_ to any more.

“Oh, God... what's happening to me?” Jasper moaned softly to himself.

Jasper grabbed for one of the items of clothing that had spilled on the ground. He ended up grabbing two - a black hoodie and black sweatpants with a hole in the knee. He wished he could do something for the man, but he didn't look like he was breathing anymore either.

Panicking, knife still lodged in his chest and clutching the clothing, Jasper fled the crime scene. He ran back the way he had come.

He didn't stop until he found the stall of public bathrooms once again. The one he had woken up in didn't have electricity, but the one next to it did. He turned on the lights, forcing more roaches to flee. This bathroom had a mirror above the sink, though it was cracked. Jasper went to the mirror and stared at his shattered reflection.

He could see why the homeless man had freaked out when he saw him.

“What...?” Jasper whispered, staring in horror at his face.

He was pale as death. His cheeks were gaunt. When he spoke, he saw two fangs, long and deadly where his normal canine teeth used to be. He had lost his hair. His veins stood out along his scalp. Finally, his eyes...

Oh, God, what had happened to his eyes?

Jasper's eyes had been dark brown. Now they were an icy white-blue.

He shook his head. This couldn’t be happening to him. This couldn’t be real.

He still had a knife in his chest. He gripped the handle with long, shaking fingers and pulled it out. The blade was a good five inches long and was covered in thick, dark blood. He looked at the wound in his chest. He wasn't bleeding. The blood on the knife smelled... amazing...

But he wasn't hungry anymore. That pain was gone completely. He felt good. He felt full.

He dropped the knife into the sink in horror.

He wanted to laugh. He wanted to cry.

This had to be a bad dream.

But why wasn't he waking up?


	2. December

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I got turned and woke up to no one. Didn't know who I was, didn't know what I was, and had to figure all that out on my own. So I wandered around figuring that out." 
> 
> \- Jasper, Season 1, Episode 8 'Who Can You Trust?'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because it was established from Chloe's pin board that Jasper disappeared in November, that meant his period of "figuring that out" happened around Christmas time. Be prepared for some Christmas angst.
> 
> I wrote the bulk of this before Season 3, Episode 2 came out and we got more description of Jasper's home and the labyrinth. I've gone back in to add more, but please forgive my lack of accuracy.

Denial could only get Jasper so far. He wasn’t dreaming. Something truly awful had happened to him. Things would never, ever be the same. Jasper didn’t want to think in such cliched absolutes, but he could feel it in his gut that this was true.

He thought about trying to go home, about trying to find Chloe. Those thoughts didn’t linger in his brain very long. She would be horrified by him now. She would scream, would call the police, and then Jasper would have to flee.

 

* * *

_I don’t want a lot for Christmas, there is just one thing I need. I don’t care about the presents underneath the Christmas tree…_

* * *

 

The gnawing, painful hunger came back a few nights later. It remained for a week until it got so bad that he couldn't help himself. He lost control again and another homeless person died. This one had a small maglite flashlight on them. Jasper took it, with an awkward apology to his victim. He couldn't see in the dark.

He tried to eat something, _anything_ other than blood. Anything else he consumed, he painfully and violently vomited back up. He couldn't even keep water down. His vomit was tinged with red. He thought at first that the reason why he was sick was because the food had come from the trash, but the same thing happened again when he ate a protein bar he found that was still in its wrapper and in-date. He gave up after that. It made his stomach and chest hurt like the worst heartburn ever.

The hunger was always followed by a sinister voice in his head. It would whisper about feeding, taking, consuming. He felt like he was going insane. Was that what had happened? Had he taken something, some pill he couldn't remember, and was on a bender? Had he had a mental break and was now wondering the streets of L.A., shoeless, starving, mad?

Christmas was coming. The buildings were decorated with lights and garlands. Angels and Santas appeared in windows and the more Christian establishments put up their Nativity scenes. Los Angeles was, of course, a melting pot, and dozens of other ethnicities fought to make themselves heard over the holidays as well. Despite that, Christmas tended to dominate here. Jasper would catch snippets of Christmas songs from cars or inside stores as he stalked the alleys and side streets, hunting.

 

* * *

_God bless you, gentlemen! God bless you! If you haven’t got a turkey leg, then God bless you!_

* * *

 

Rats tasted disgusting, but he could keep their blood down at least. Catching them was difficult. They always seemed to sense him coming and acted far more aggressively than he had ever experienced before in an animal. The voice inside hated the rats, and always urged him to go after larger prey.

Stray dogs or cats weren’t much better, and were even more aggressive and dangerous than the rats. Jasper was glad he had kept the knife he had accidentally stolen. It helped against the dogs. He didn’t manage to catch any of the cats. He didn’t even try to get the foxes or coyotes he would see. He didn’t want to get rabies, on top of everything else. He didn’t know that he needn't have worried.

He didn’t like to eat the animals. Besides the fact that their blood simply wasn’t as filling, they reminded him too much of pets he had as a child, which brought back too many memories of growing up.

Humans were a far easier prey, but each time he gave into the hunger, it felt like a part of his soul was being worn away.

Were his family aware he was missing? Did they think we was dead, or just another lost soul in the City of Angels?

 

* * *

_It's the most wonderful time of the year! With the kids jingle belling and everyone telling you be of good cheer..._

* * *

 

Jasper thought about going to a hospital and seeking help there. That idea also didn’t last very long. He had no pulse. He didn’t need to breathe any more. He still had a stab wound in his chest from that first night. It wasn’t healing, but it didn’t seem to bleed either, nor was it getting infected. He kept it covered up anyways. If the hunger got the better of him there… he would be a danger to every single person in the building.

No. No hospitals. No doctors.

He was on his own.

Jasper wanted to go home.

He wanted to be tucked into a warm bed, with the only human being he cared about snuggled in next to him.

He was cold all the time. It wasn’t as bad as the hunger.

 

* * *

_I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know. Where the treetops glisten and children listen to hear sleigh bells in the snow…_

* * *

 

Jasper tried to stay awake as the sun rose to see what would happen. He holed himself up in an abandoned building, instinctively fearful of the sunlight. He passed out. He tried again the next dawn, attempting to force himself to stay awake. His body betrayed him again and he slept. He came to realise that this would keep happening whether he wanted it to or not, and resolved to make sure he was somewhere safe so that it couldn't happen where he was unprotected or could be discovered. He was forced to leave that shelter when he woke up to some Latino teenagers showing off a dead body they had found to their friends. The dead body had been him. He scared the shit out of them when he opened his eyes. They all screamed and ran. Jasper disappeared into the night.

This task of finding a more permanent, secure haven became exceedingly difficult. He had never thought before about how many people there were in Los Angeles until he tried to find privacy on the streets. Dumpsters were no good, because people were always going into them. Abandoned buildings were full of holes to let in both unwelcome strangers and the sun. Jasper made do with what he could find, but it made him constantly afraid. Finding some kind of permanent shelter became his top priority.

Well, top priority after trying to keep that hunger, and the demonic voice inside him that went with it, quiet.

 

* * *

_I’ll be home for Christmas. You can plan on me. Please have snow, and mistletoe, and presents by the tree…_

* * *

 

Eventually, Jasper pried up a manhole cover and slipped down into the sewers. It, of course, stank down there, but he found that he didn’t mind that so much after the first few minutes. It was dark, quiet and away from people. Jasper was able to find a little peace and a relatively safe place to sleep.

He used this peace to try to piece together what had happened to him, and what he was now. He hated it, but he kept having lines from ‘Twilight’ run through his head.

_“I know what you are.”_

_“Say it.”_

_“Vampire.”_

Jasper had been in high school at the height of the ‘Twilight’ craze. The fact that he shared a first name with a character from the franchise meant that he suffered next to no end of teasing about it. He hated ‘Twilight’.

Jasper looked at his hands, his long, white fingers. His nails had grown long and sharp and were caked in filth. His skin had become dry and darkly veined.

_“This is the skin of a killer, Bella.”_

He growled to himself, lips curled and fangs bared. This wasn’t ‘Twilight’. This was a nightmare. This was hell.

 

* * *

_God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay. Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day, to save us all from Satan's pow'r when we were gone astray. Oh, tidings of comfort and joy…_

* * *

 

As a child, he was convinced that vampires must be real. This belief had faded as he aged, but the sharp fangs in his mouth and never ending hunger in his gut told him that no, he had been right the first time. It was insane, but he had to accept it.

What he didn’t know now, was why him? And where was the person who had done this to him? Jasper’s life had not been perfect, but he had been happy enough. He had his whole life ahead of him. He had only been twenty-four years old.

His heart hurt. He missed Chloe.

He decided to do something stupid and find her. Fuck it. It was Christmas.

Maybe he could explain to her what had happened to him, maybe she could help him, maybe she wouldn't scream in horror at his face.

Maybe...

Jasper climbed up onto the streets and headed for Griffith College.

 

* * *

_Hark how the bells, sweet silver bells, all seem to say, throw cares away. Christmas is here, bringing good cheer, to young and old, meek and the bold..._

* * *

 

He was half way there when he heard a woman and a man having an argument behind a bar. He started to turn to avoid them seeing him, but overheard something that made him pause.

“I said ‘no!’”

“Aww come on, babe! Where’s your Christmas cheer, huh?”

“Fuck off!”

He heard the man grunt and the woman scream, then banging, like bins and bodies falling over. Suddenly they were there, almost in front of him in the alley, and they were fighting. She was in a waitress uniform with a coat over top, he was in a jacket and jeans and reeked of tobacco and booze. Jasper froze, standing in the shadows, eyes wide. He was terrified of being seen, but also disturbed by what he was witnessing. The man had his hands around the woman’s throat and was choking her, as well as banging her head against the pavement. The woman was trying to fight back, but it was clear she was failing. Jasper was watching a murder happen right in front of him. He could smell blood in the air as the woman’s scalp split.

 _“You could put a stop to this…”_   said a voice inside him.

It was true. He could.

And he did.

With a snarl, Jasper sprang from the shadows and tackled the man, who shouted in surprise and horror. Jasper lifted him up and threw him into a wall with a strength he genuinely didn’t know he had. The man bounced and crumpled. Jasper lifted him up again and bit into his throat. Hot blood tinged with alcohol and nicotine filled Jasper’s mouth. He drank his fill until the man’s heart stopped beating. Jasper dropped the body and looked at the woman. She was unconscious on the cold ground, a pool of blood growing under her head. She wasn’t breathing.

A terrified scream cut through the air. Another woman in the same uniform as the one on the ground had come around the corner and seen the blood, her co-worker, Jasper, and the dead man slumped at his feet. Jasper could see her breath in the cold December air as she screamed.

He bolted, running as hard and fast as his legs could take him.

Jasper’s path took him towards the L.A. River.

 

* * *

_City sidewalks, busy sidewalks dressed in holiday style. In the air there's a feeling of Christmas. Children laughing, people passing, meeting smile after smile, and on every street corner you hear..._

* * *

 

Once upon a time, the river had been beautiful, flowing down from the Rocky Mountains into the Pacific Ocean. Now, it was a stinking trickle that flowed along a man-made concrete riverbank. Sometimes, movies would be filmed here. Thankfully for Jasper, this was not the case this night.

Jasper heard police sirens in the background. He had no way to tell if they were chasing him or not. He ran on, following the path of the river as it curved east. If the police caught him, he would be in very serious trouble. If they kept him for long enough, someone was going to die… again. Jasper needed a place to hide. All thought of trying to find Chloe had evaporated from his mind.

Eventually, Jasper came upon what looked like a workman’s hatch built into the concrete wall of the riverbank. Above him was the vast green expanse of Griffith Park. Jasper pried the hatch open and slipped inside. He pulled the door firmly shut behind him.

Jasper found himself in a nearly pitch black tunnel. He turned on his maglite. He had tried to use it only sparingly since he found it. He had no way of getting new batteries for it. The air down here was musty, cold and still. Jasper slowly, carefully, felt his way along the passage, one hand on the wall. It went straight for a ways, then curved a few times and switched back. Eventually, it opened up into a room. This room had a door at the other end, which in turn opened up to a hall with more rooms and passages connecting them, like a man-sized rabbit warren. Each room was empty and dark. The floor had a layer of dirt and grime on it. He could see the occasional evidence of rodent activity, but no other sign of life.

It seemed almost too good to be true. This space underground was… perfect. It was certainly safe from the sun, and so far as Jasper could tell, empty and unoccupied. But… why was it here? Who made it? Was it part of some maintenance system for the river?

For the first time since that awful November night, Jasper felt a sense of relief and excitement. This place, whatever it was, was clearly abandoned and had been for some time. He could claim it. If anyone came back to say it was theirs, or if anyone else stumbled across it like he had, he could… fight back. Jasper never used to consider himself to be all that violent, but he had begun to lose count now of the number of people he had attacked and killed these past few weeks. Violence was an inescapable part of his existence now. Some deep dark part of him, the same part that also thirsted for blood, _enjoyed_ the violence and wished him to do more of it.

Eventually, Jasper’s explorations brought him to a strange metal door deep inside the maze of rooms. Jasper pushed it open and found himself in a different set of tunnels. At first, Jasper thought it was the sewers, but it didn’t smell at all like them. The brick work was different too. Jasper left the metal door ajar and took a right down this new path.

Jasper walked for what felt like ages and the tunnel twisted and turned, curiosity driving his steps. It wasn’t until he tried to turn around and find his way back to the metal door that he realised he was lost. No matter what he did, he could not retrace his steps. This place was a literal maze, a labyrinth, and Jasper didn’t know how to find his way out.

He didn’t panic, not at first. The labyrinth was dark, private and quiet. It was refreshing to not hear traffic, or other voices, or anything really other than his own movements for once. He caught sight of a vaulted ceiling that made him stare in wonder for several minutes. There were metal grates and ladders. His flashlight beam picked out gaping chasms, ramps and staircases that lead to nowhere, and corners that seemed to invert at a second glance. He would try to climb a staircase and find himself moving downwards. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and when he looked back, the walls had changed, opening up new passageways or closing old ones. Sometimes there was a symbol that looked like a rat carved into the stonework. Someone had built this. Someone had _designed_ this. Humans or… perhaps someone like the creature he had become. This was in no way created by nature.

But _who_ had made this and _why_?

Jasper wasn’t an expert in the history of Los Angeles, but he had done several school papers on it, as well as his own personal reading. No where, in any of his research, had he ever come across anything about a labyrinth under Griffith Park and the L.A. River.

Jasper began to feel some kind of burning need to find out everything he could about this bizarre place he had found. It distracted him, for a short while, from the misery of his condition, and that meant _everything_ to him.

Eventually, Jasper slept, his back against a stone wall. For the first time, he didn’t fear that he would be discovered or burnt by the sun.

He didn’t start to panic until he _still_ could not find the way out the next night.

Or the night after that.

Or the night after that.

His flashlight batteries started to die.

And now he was getting hungry.

 

* * *

_Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne?_


	3. January

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "...I don't know how long I was down there, and I was down there long enough to the first thing I found that even resembled a person, I ate."
> 
> \- Jasper. Season 1, Episode 8 "Who Can You Trust?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a very depressing chapter and Jasper contemplates suicide. You have been warned.

Hunger woke Jasper from his daysleep. It _hurt._ It was just about the worst pain he had ever felt. He could hear that voice inside him, roaring and whispering in turns. It was non-stop. Jasper clutched his ears, but he could still hear it.

Hunger.

_Hunger._

HUNGER.

**HUNGER**

**H U N G E R**

He couldn’t think. How long had it been since he had fed? Weeks? It was impossible to tell the time down in this darkness.

Jasper’s flashlight batteries ran out a long time ago.

He had been curled in an alcove he had found. Cold stone was his pillow. He crawled out and stood. Jasper struggled to concentrate, flinching and starting at every faint sound that echoed around him. He didn’t know what was going to happen to him if he didn’t find something, _someone_ , to eat tonight. Was it possible for him to starve to death? Would he go to sleep and just never wake up? Would he be doomed to wander through this labyrinth, a snarling, inhuman monster, for the rest of time?

He heard a distinct footstep. At first, he thought he was hallucinating. He stood still and listened as hard as he could. The footsteps continued. Someone else was down there with him.

Jasper's hand found the knife he had tucked away under his belt. He pulled it out and stalked, as quietly as he could, towards the sound. He moved through the darkness, keeping one hand on a wall.

As he got closer, he could see a dim light bouncing around. It was a flashlight. He could also hear something a grumbling, male voice.

“Shut up... 's not my fault...” the voice was saying, seemingly talking to himself. “Shut up, I'm trying... as soon... as I find my way out... damn tunnel... need some damn lights...”

Jasper paused, pressed against a stone wall. There was definitely another person down there, perhaps lost like himself.

Maybe he could help him. Maybe they could help each other.

He heard the man stumble and curse. “Ow... shit! Stupid, clumsy...”

Jasper's eyes went wide as the scent of blood hit the stale, foul air. The stranger had injured himself somehow. This wasn't just any blood though. This wasn't like the blood he had tasted before. This was something... more. This was something powerful. The scent was potent and arousing in the worst way. He fought for a half-second to control himself, but it was a losing battle. The Beast in his chest broke its lock, escaped its cage, and took over completely.

Feed.

FEED.

**FEED.**

**F E E D**

**_A T T A C K_ **

Jasper sprang out from his hiding place, like a leopard on a gazelle. His knife flashed. His fangs were bared and a vicious, hungry, inhuman snarl escaped. His victim had a brief moment of surprise and pain. Jasper knocked him down and sliced his throat in a single, violent action. Thick, dark Vitae splashed out. Jasper crouched down over his prize. He drank and drank and drank, blindly and greedily slaking his thirst. He pulled back, made a deeper cut across the throat, and drank again. His Beast howled with success at the violence and exalted at the sweet, intoxicating taste running down his throat. The finest food and drink he had ever consumed as a human simply could not compare. Even though there was a bitter back note, this blood was just _better_ in every way to the humans or rats he had eaten. It was the nectar of the gods. It was the best thing he had ever tasted, period, dead or alive. He wanted more.

And more.

And _more_.

And then Jasper looked up and saw when he had done. He recoiled in horror and revulsion.

Jasper scrambled backwards, away from his victim. He stumbled on a loose stone and fell backwards painfully onto his elbows and tail bone. He dropped his knife. It clattered to the stone by his side. Jasper ignored the pain radiating through his arms and lower back, as if it were happening to someone else. He stared at the corpse in front at him.

The flashlight the stranger had been carrying had fallen in the attack and been damaged. The light flickered dimly, putting a strobe on the gruesome scene. The man had been wearing a sweater and dirty jeans. His arms had fallen on top of his chest, perhaps in some kind of awkward attempt at self-defense. It was hard to tell how old he was, but older than Jasper certainly.

And he had been killed, decapitated by Jasper. The head lay very close to the body. There wasn't as much blood as Jasper thought there should be.

_Because I drank it all._

Jasper shuddered in terror at his actions. Equally horrifying to him was the fact that it had tasted amazingly good. _Why_ though? What made this guy so special compared to the other homeless people he had attacked before?

Hands shaking, Jasper stood. He forced himself to step closer and look at the body. He had to know why, even if it made him feel terrified and disgusted.

This man, whoever he was, was hideous. He had disgusting grey skin that was covered in sores and boils. His eyes were open and clouded over like a long-dead corpse’s. His mouth was open in a silent scream and Jasper could see that his upper teeth included a vicious-looking set of fangs.

“Shit...” Jasper hissed silently. This man was like him. He was a monster too. A vampire. Jasper had just slain another vampire.

Or had he?

Jasper was no expert, but he thought that vampires turned to dust when they died. This man was definitely still a corpse, huge and stinking.

Jasper forced himself to look closer at the knife wound he had made in the man's neck. He forced the corpse’s jaw closed. He had thought he had decapitated him, which must be a sure fire way of killing a vampire, but no. There was a few inches of tissue left intact. Muscle, skin and some blood vessels forming a gruesome hinge.

Jasper groaned. “Sorry...” he found himself muttering as he scooped up the broken flashlight. He glanced back at his knife where he had dropped it, still red with Vitae. He went back and picked it up too. He licked the blade and made a face, disgusting himself once again.

It was then he realised that the insufferable voice, the growling, gnashing hunger inside him had grown weaker. It was nearly silent. He felt almost, but not quite, full and satisfied. The incessant roars of hunger from the Beast had been reduced to a dull rumble, whispering in the back of his head.

_"Why don’t you finish the job?”_

It scared him as much as it pleased him.

He looked at the body again. It looked very dead. He didn't know if he should try to finish cutting the head off or if he should just leave it.

_What the hell kind of choice is that for anyone to make?_

Jasper's hands wouldn’t stop shaking. He had to get away. He turned and sprinted away from the corpse. He wasn't sure if he was going deeper still into the maze, or out of it, and in that moment, he didn't care.

Jasper ran, blindly, until he couldn’t run any more. He stopped and leaned against the wall. He growled to himself. Usually, when he ran that long and hard, his heart would be pounding and he would be out of breath. Now though, there was nothing. He felt cold and alone and still disgusted with himself over the fact he was now capable of very easily slicing someone’s head off. He was also still haunted by the memory of how good his last, gruesome meal had tasted. He didn't feel human. He felt like a monster. A _thing_. It was awful.

Jasper looked up and realised that this passage way looked familiar. He blinked and stepped forward a little. Yes, he had been here before. There was a mark on the stone wall he recognised. He sighed in relief. He rounded a corner and almost collapsed at what he saw.

It was the metal door, the same one he had gone through Lord knows how long ago. Through that door, if his memory was correct, was the series of strange, dark rooms, then the passage up to the outside. He ran to it, hoping it wasn't an illusion. He touched the cold metal, snarling. It was real. He almost laughed. It was still partly open from the last time he had gone through it. He went through and pulled the door closed behind him.

Yes, this was the room he had seen before. He banged on the broken flashlight until it lit the room in a dim, yellow light.  He could see his own footprints in the dirt on the floor. Jasper almost collapsed in relief, but remembered his thoughts the last time he was here. This place was still too nice to be random and too good to be true. Someone surely must live down here. He stumbled through checking each room to see if he was still alone. He was. His limbs felt heavy and tired. Exhaustion crept up with him all at once. Jasper picked a room at random and shut himself inside it. He lay on the cold, dirty ground, curling on his side into as tight a ball as he could.

He didn't breathe. He didn't shiver, though it was freezing cold. He didn't move. Jasper closed his eyes. There were no sounds. Things were nearly soundproof down here.

Jasper felt like he was in a tomb.

He wished he was in a tomb.

Now that his Beast wasn't distracting his thoughts with cries of hunger, his mind could turn to other things. He thought about Chloe. He missed her terribly. He wondered if she was sleeping, or if she was awake. He wondered what was going through his parents' minds. He had been distant from his family, but surely they were looking for him. Surely, _someone_ must be. Maybe Chloe had made posters and put them up around the college. Maybe she was awake, her phone in her hand, waiting for him to text or call, or for the police to call.

Jasper missed his heartbeat and the feeling of blood moving through his body. He had never thought about it before, while he was alive, but now its absence was stark. He felt empty, blank, and very alone.

He blinked, his eyes stinging. Jasper put a hand to his face and it came away wet. He could smell blood. It smelt the same as, or very similar to, the Vitae he had consumed from that other strange man in the tunnels far below. He tentatively tasted it. Definitely not normal tears.

So he was crying blood now. Great.

He was a freak. A monster. He knew that he shouldn’t exist in the world, and neither did he want to. This was hell, pure and simple. He had to attack and possibly kill people to survive and he just... didn’t want to do it anymore. He could feel it eating away at his soul.

He could see Chloe's face in his mind's eye. God, he missed her. He wanted to see her, to feel some hope, but he could still imagine the look of terror on her face upon seeing him. He could almost hear her scream.

How long was he supposed to endure this existence, alone, cold, lifeless, violent and hungry, except for when he killed someone?

He couldn't take it. It was too much. Jasper lay there in the bleak, dark stillness and wept openly. He could feel the blood seeping from his eyes and running down his face to the floor.

He had no one. No one to comfort him, no one to tell him what had happened, or how things could improve.

Not that he could possibly see how anything could improve.

Maybe that other one, the stranger in the maze, maybe he could have spoken to Jasper, explained things, helped him.

But Jasper had attacked him instead. He couldn't stop himself. He had slit the man’s neck and consumed the blood like a shipwreck survivor having access to fresh water for the first time in days. Jasper assumed that he had destroyed that other vampire. Surely there was no coming back from that.

He couldn't live like this. Jasper decided that he had to end it, end the pain and hunger and misery.

What else killed vampires?

A stake? He had none.

He couldn’t cut off his own head. Not without engineering some kind of guillotine device, and he didn’t have any tools for that.

Fire? Maybe? He would need to find fuel and ignition.

The sun.

That was it.

He could go outside and just... let the sun do it.

Outside...

When was the last time he was outside?

It was back when he first found this place. Jasper couldn't remember how long he had been down there. All the nights ran together in his mind.

If he remembered his geography correctly, he was somewhere near or underneath Griffith Park. He had loved visiting that place before his life ended. It was a nice piece of nature in the city, with trees and birds and animals and fresh air.

One last time, before he saw the sunrise, he thought that he would like to see the outdoors, maybe watch the stars or the moon, if it was out.

Just one last time.

And then...

… all he had to do was wait for the dawn, and...

… that would be it, and he wouldn’t be in pain any more and he would stop hurting people forever.

Jasper's tears slowed and eventually stopped as he fell asleep.


	4. February

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper finally meets someone who can help him.

At the next sunset, Jasper rose from his death-like sleep. He stretched his arms and legs and cracked his back and neck. This had once been his routine every morning when we woke up in bed, but those days were gone forever.

His Beast remained fairly peaceful, but he knew numbly that it was only a matter of time before it was roaring in his head once again to kill someone. He found the passage that he hoped would take him back outside and, after getting turned around a few times, eventually, he came upon the work hatch. He pushed it open. He knew he wouldn’t have been able to shift this heavy door on his own before all this had happened to him, but now it was no problem. This did nothing to cheer him up.

Jasper paused, standing on the concrete riverbed and stared up at the night sky. The moon was a bright crescent above him and a few stars twinkled. He knew some of those stars were actually satellites, but even still... the night sky was good to see. He forced air in and out of his chest in a heavy sigh.

Jasper turned and climbed up the concrete bank and headed into the park. Trees blocked his view of the sky here, but that was okay. He had time to find a clearing. He inhaled again, smelling nature. He found himself walking vaguely towards the observatory, lost in memories. He had taken Chloe for picnics here. She made fun of him for dressing all in black on a hot day. He didn't care. He was too distracted by how beautiful her hair had looked in the sunlight.

Jasper found a small spot on a hill in a clearing. He sat on the grass and lay back, flat on his back.

He felt numb and cold inside. The night was chilly. He knew he ought be be seeing his breath, but he couldn't. He knew he ought to be shivering as well, but he wasn’t. He was still wearing the clothes he had died in and stolen that first night. He was still barefoot. He knew he should be dead from the stab wound he still had in his chest, but he wasn’t.

The moon was just visible over the trees. Jasper lay there and quietly watched it, glad he got to see a little beauty before he met his final death.

A twig snapping made him turn his head. He thought it would be an animal, but was startled to see a flash of bright white fabric moving through the trees. Jasper's eyes went wide as he glimpsed a woman in a long, white dress. Her skin and hair were also white. She was beautiful, ethereal, unworldly. She had a bundle of plants, flowers, leaves and branches in the crook of one arm. She hadn't seen him yet.

Jasper froze, wanting to disappear. The woman looked up, right in his direction, but didn't seem to see him. She moved closer, humming to herself and Jasper realised he couldn’t see her breath in the cold night either.

She was another one like him.

But... she was beautiful.

 _Of course,_ Jasper thought, _not all vampires were hideous._

Unless she wasn't a vampire?

She was moving closer. She would be upon him soon. One step closer, and another. If she took one more, she would trip over him. Jasper lost his nerve and scrambled away. The woman jumped with a small yelp, startled. She dropped her plants and they spilled all over the grassy ground.

Jasper ran blindly through the trees. Branches whipped at his face and body. One sliced into his face and he hissed. The rough forest floor tore up the soles of his feet. He could hear a feminine voice behind him call out.

“Wait!”

He stumbled on a rock he didn't see in the darkness and sprawled to the forest floor, face down in the dirt. He hissed again in pain. His shin had been gashed open on the rock. He could hear the woman coming and curled up, his hands over his face and head, trying to hide.

“Wait! Are... are you alright?” she asked in a kind, concerned voice.

“Stay away!” Jasper growled.

He heard her footsteps stop as she hesitated. “Are you hurt?”

“I'm fine! Go away!”

There was a long pause. He kept his face down, away from her.

“What's your name?” she asked.

“Go away,” he growled weakly. He didn’t understand. Why wasn't she scared? Why wasn't she leaving?

“That's not a name. It's alright. I won't hurt you.”

Jasper curled up tighter. “It's not... _you_ hurting _me_ I'm worried about...”

“Are you going to hurt me?”

“No, I... I don't want to… but...”

He felt her touch his hand very gently. Her skin was ice cold. He flinched away.

“It's alright,” she said again, soothingly. “Let me see you. It's alright.”

“No! No... I'm...”

“Shh... I know that you're not... human. It's okay.”

“But-”

"It's _okay_ ,” she assured him. Her voice was lovely, calm and maternal. “You won't scare me.”

Jasper peeked up at her. She was kneeling beside him, her lovely, white face creased with concern. Her eyes were a very soft, pale blue. She frowned when she saw him, but didn't recoil back in terror, didn't scream.

“Oh, you poor thing,” she said with great and genuine pity.

Jasper blinked. He uncurled and sat up a little. “W-who are you?” he asked, his voice shaking.

“I'm Eva.”

“Are... are you an angel?”

Eva giggled. “No, I'm not, I'm afraid.” She smiled and Jasper saw two little fang points.

“Are you...?”

“I am like you, yes. Like you, but different. What's your name? I gave you mine.”

“Jasper.”

“Jasper? That's a lovely name.” Eva gave him a small smile, then frowned again. “You look like you've been through a lot. Here,” she held out an ivory white handkerchief, “wipe your face.”

Jasper took it with a shaking hand and scooted back a little further away from her. He wiped his face and the cloth was soon stained red, brown and black from dirt and dried blood.

“That's better,” Eva said. “Now... where did you come from?”

He wasn’t sure how much he should say about himself. “I... went to the college. Griffith College.”

“Do you remember how long ago this happened to you?”

Jasper shook his head. He was almost afraid to ask, but he knew he must. “What... day, or... night is this?”

“This is the night of February 1, 2014.”

Jasper blinked in shock, his jaw dropping open. It had been _months_ since that first horrible, murderous night? He had missed Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years...

He had been thinking of buying Chloe an engagement ring for Christmas.

Jasper felt something in his chest clench in anguish and he swallowed hard against the sudden uprising of emotion.

“It's been...” Jasper cleared his throat and started again. “It's been almost three months.”

Eva sighed sadly. “Do you know who did this to you?”

He shook his head again. “I just... woke up in a bathroom... starving and... looking like this.”

Eva put a hand to her mouth. “You poor thing,” she said again, and again Jasper heard genuine pity and sadness in her voice. “I am so sorry.”

Jasper's tongue went to his fangs. They were extremely distracting. He could feel them against his tongue when he spoke. They were painfully sharp. “Am I a... a vampire?” he asked. Finally, he had someone who could answer his questions. She was the first, and so far only kind person he had met since he had been turned, let alone someone who wanted to talk to him.

Eva nodded. “Yes, but we don't tend to use that term. We call ourselves Kindred instead.”

Jasper shifted, sitting a little more comfortably. Something inside him was intrigued, thirsty for more answers. “How come... you and I look so different?”

“Kindred are divided up into several different clans, each with their own gifts and curses. If I am not mistaken, I believe that you are what we call a Nosferatu.”

Jasper blinked. “Like... the movie?”

“The very same. They, unfortunately, are cursed with an often grotesque appearance.”

“Are there more like me?” he asked.

“Oh, yes. Many more. I can take you to them, if you'd like.”

“Yeah… maybe.” Jasper felt like he needed a minute to take things in. “What about you?”

“Me?”

“What’s your... clan?”

She smiled kindly. “My clan are called the Tremere. We specialise in...” she paused, as if to think of the right word, “magic, and the occult.”

Jasper perked up, extra intrigued in spite of himself. “Magic?”

“Blood magic, yes.”

“Are you a witch?”

She nodded slowly. “There are those who call me that, yes, and I don't correct them.”

“I used to love reading about the occult,” Jasper confessed, looking at Eva in amazement.

Eva smiled kindly again. “You still can, you know. Being what you are may not stop you from reading and learning.” Eva stood and reached out to him, but he pulled back. “Come with me,” she said, “up, out of the dirt. Let's talk more in a... cleaner place.”

Jasper hesitated for another moment, then took her offered hand and stood up. She brushed dirt and leaves off her dress.

“I'm sorry about your... handkerchief,” Jasper muttered.

Eva smiled. “It's alright. It can be cleaned.”

He gave it back to her and together they walked back to the little clearing. He helped her gather up her flowers and plants. His injured shin from the fall and the stab wound in his chest made him wince.

“Are you injured?” Eva asked.

“Yeah, I um… banged my shin and um… I was stabbed a while ago...” He gestured to where the wound was, hidden by his hoodie.

“Do you know how to rouse your blood to heal yourself?”

“What?”

"We are dead, Jasper,” Eva said softly, “but we are powered by our blood, which allows us to do amazing things. However, we cannot do normal human things such as healing or waking up without first calling on the blood. Have you noticed you are sometimes hungry when you wake at night?”

“Yes,” he said, hanging on her every word.

“That is because sometimes, these things come with a cost, and that cost is hunger. The Beast, the hungry monster inside of us, can be quelled with blood, but only for a brief time.”

Jasper nodded. This was all making a lot of sense based on his experiences these past few months. “So… if I want to heal my leg and my chest, I have to force it to. It won’t heal on its own.”

“That is correct. Focus on the wound and _will_ your blood to force it closed.”

Jasper did so, concentrating on the knife wound he had gotten his first night as a vampire. _As Kindred_ , he corrected himself. As Kindred. He could feel something stir inside and slowly, painfully, the wound finally closed. Within moments, the pain in his shin evaporated as well, and the rest of his scrapes disappeared. Jasper was amazed and fortunately, his hunger did not increase. It was almost enough to quell his horror. This was quickly becoming his new ‘normal.’

“I sleep over near the Observatory,” Eva said to him. “Let's go there to talk. I'm also going to make a phone call.”

“Who to?” Jasper asked.

“The Kindred of Los Angeles are ruled over by different Barons, depending on where in the city they live,” Eva explained as they walked through the park. “Each Baron controls a different area. The Barons are there to make sure that we uphold the rules and things don't get out of control, but otherwise, we are more or less free to do as we wish in this city. We are lucky here. Kindred in… other areas are often ruled by far more… controlling and tyrannical leaders. They call themselves Princes.” Eva sighed. “The Baron whom I answer to, most often, is the Baron of Hollywood. It's polite to let him know about you. From there, we can make plans.”

“What rules? What... plans?”

Eva gave an apologetic smile. “I'm sorry. It's a lot of information to take in all at once.”

“No, no... it's alright. I'm... just glad to know I'm not alone.”

She gave him a sad look. “Have you fed at all yet this night?”

“No...” he answered, hesitantly. He didn't want to tell her the whole truth, lest she scorn him. “But I’m okay. I fed last night, I think. Um...I think I... I may have killed some people, a while ago.”

Eva reacted calmly. “How does that make you feel?”

Jasper had been thinking a lot about this over the past few months. “Horrible. I'm a... monster.”

“It does feel horrible to kill. However, it is possible for you to feed without killing anyone,” Eva said. Jasper noticed she neatly glossed over the monster part. “You can be taught how.”

“Okay,” Jasper said doubtfully. “What about... the other rules?”

“The most important rule is not to let the humans know about us. This is called the Masquerade, and it must never be broken.”

“What happens if it is broken?” Jasper asked.

“Then… usually, the offending Kindred is hunted down and killed.”

“What about vampire books and things like that?”

“Clever ruses to hide our true selves,” Eva said with a sly little smile.

The Observatory was in sight now. No one was around, it being well after closing time.

“What about... my friends and family?” he asked, though the only friend or family he cared about was Chloe.

“I'm very sorry, Jasper, but you must never see them again,” Eva said sadly. “Everyone from your old life must be left behind.”

Jasper sighed. He had assumed as much. “They'll think I’m missing or dead.”

“They're not wrong,” Eva said, not unkindly.

Jasper was quiet, churning everything over in his head.

He was a vampire.

He had been one for several months now.

There were different types, and his was most likely Nosferatu.

There were secret vampire politics that varied from city to city.

He had to keep all of this a secret, or risk being hunted down and killed.

Something inside of Jasper seemed to exalt at knowing this terrible secret. He couldn’t quite work out why he felt so good about knowing this awful, but little-known thing, nor why he felt a need to find more secrets and horde them, like a dragon hoards gold. He had never been that excited about secrets before now. He put a mental pin in that to think about later.

Eva watched him as they walked. “May I ask you something?” she said.

Jasper shrugged. “Sure.”

“Why were you out in the park tonight?”

“Honestly?”

She nodded, wanting the truth.

“I was waiting for the dawn. I wanted to burn,” he answered. “We do… still burn in sunlight, right?”

“Oh, yes,” Eva said in a dark, but quiet tone. “The sun and fire are our two most deadly banes. Do you still want to wait for the dawn?”

Jasper sighed again. “Part of me does, yes. My... existence has been nothing but hell ever since this happened. I miss the people I've left behind. I can't stand this... Beast inside of me.” He put a pale hand to his chest, curling his fingers into claws. “Eva, you are the first, the _only_ person I've met who... has been nice, who has explained anything to me, who hasn’t tried to kill me or run away...”

Eva gave him a kind little smile. “Can I make a deal with you, Jasper?”

“What kind of deal?” he asked, very suspicious.

“Don't let yourself be burned by the sun. Stay and talk with me for the rest of the night. I'll answer as many of your questions as I can. Survive, at least until tomorrow night. If you are still around then, I'll introduce you to the Baron and we’ll see if we can find the other Nosferatu. If you still want to die, I will let you, but at least give it one more night.”

Jasper considered. “And... what do you get out of this?”

"The pleasure of your company, and, if you survive, maybe other favours in the future. You are a smart young man, I can tell, and you have talents. You still have the potential to do many marvellous things.”

“How do you know?”

“I just know. I am a witch, after all,” she said with a tiny wink.

Jasper was, once again, a little taken aback. He didn't know what to say. She thought his company was… pleasurable?

“So... do we have a deal?” Eva prompted. They were close by the Observatory now.

Jasper licked his fangs. He could see the moon again. It shone down upon them both. Eva seemed to almost glow in the dim moonlight. He nodded at her. “Alright. Deal.”

She smiled at him. “Good. Let's sit inside and continue our conversation.”

Eva let him into the Observatory and, true to her word, she answered all his questions. They talked for hours.

When dawn approached, she let Jasper leave. He had assured her that he had a safe place to stay near by. She smiled at him warmly and wished him a good sleep, saying she would see him tomorrow, hopefully.

Jasper walked down the winding road from the Observatory and headed towards the L.A. River. His head was busy with everything she had told him about Kindred society. So many secrets, right under the noses of most people. It was... exciting. He felt a stirring inside of himself that he couldn’t place, but it felt satisfying. He wanted to learn more about this secret world.

He found the hatch again and went inside. These tunnels seemed almost familiar to him now. The rooms at the bottom of them were as cold, quiet and empty as before. He wondered again who had constructed these and why were they abandoned.

_And what the hell was that... labyrinth that was attached to them?_

Jasper hadn't asked Eva about that. With everything else he had to learn about this new world he had been thrust into, it hadn't come up. It was some kind of maze, yes, but it was so much _more_ than that. Jasper was confident that even though he had spent a long time lost down there, he had only scratched the surface of what there was to explore.

He found the room he had slept in the previous day. He could see where he had curled on the floor. There were a few dark drops of blood where his tears had dripped and dried.

He was still depressed. His vampiric condition was a depressing thing. Jasper knew he still had the option to end it, to walk out into the sun, but...

He had made a deal with Eva. Eva, who said she wasn't an angel, but she was one to Jasper. Someone so kind and caring in the face of his grotesqueness, who said she enjoyed his company and did not flinch away from him in the slightest. Surely, she was angelic indeed.

Jasper supposed he could see what this Baron of Hollywood she mentioned said when he saw him. Maybe, if it was something worthwhile, Jasper might have reason to stick around.

Jasper lay on the cold, dirty floor, his long body stretched out and an arm folded under his head for a pillow. As he waited for sleep, he thought of Chloe again. Jasper couldn't accept the fact that he could never see her again. Maybe they might not be able to speak, and maybe she could never see _him,_  but he was going to see _her_. He wasn't sure how yet, but he would find a way. He could not rest easy unless he knew she was safe. So long as Chloe was safe, then maybe, just _maybe_ , he could endure this undead hell.

Jasper's eyes closed and he drifted off. Mercifully, he did not dream.


	5. March

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper meets more Kindred who will have an major impact on him going forward.

The rest of February seemed to blur past like a dream. Jasper kept his promise to Eva and survived, lingering around Griffith Park. Eva found him some new clothes - black jeans, a shirt, hoodie, and shoes. Jasper didn’t know where she got them from, but he was grateful. She told him it was no problem, and after all, she wanted him to present himself well to the Baron.

Isaac Abrams, Toreador, Baron of Hollywood, felt to Jasper like an evil man. He had climbed his way to the top through a lot of both lawful and unlawful money, bloodshed, and opportune backstabbing. He had made his fortune producing movies and being the man behind the man _behind the man_ for many studios. For far as Hollywood was concerned, the buck stopped with Abrams.

Jasper couldn’t cotton onto why at first, but Abrams seemed to take a shine to him. The entire first meeting felt to Jasper like a job interview. It made him nervous, but intrigued. Abrams needed someone to help do “little jobs” for him, things that he obviously didn’t want to dirty his hands with directly. Jasper, of course, would be paid for his time and efforts.

While this offer had every feeling of being a deal with the devil, he accepted it. Anything was better than the several months of hell he was just now climbing out of. The Baron gave Jasper a phone, to make sure he could keep in touch with him, and then sent him to the Hollywood Forever cemetery.

Jasper had been to this cemetery several times while he was alive. They showed movies here in the summer months, and the historical tours were deeply interesting if you were into that kind of thing. What Jasper soon learned was that in addition to being the final resting place for many Hollywood elite, Hollywood Forever was also home to the largest nest of Nosferatu in Los Angeles. He met the glorious Gary Golden, once the Nosferatu Primogen, who welcomed Jasper with a hospitality he had rarely seen in life, let alone as Kindred.

“Always glad to meet another cousin!” Gary said with a wink.

Jasper dined on rats and learned from Gary and his childer more details about what he could expect from Kindred life in L.A., but from a specifically more Nosferatu point of view. Jasper had encountered much of this already, but felt oddly reassured that again, he was not alone. His experiences, though tragic, were not special down here. He was advised on the tradition of only trading secrets for other secrets, that information was of the utmost importance and to never give away anything for free.

Gary offered him a room down there, under the cemetery, but Jasper politely declined. He knew how lucky he was to have found those rooms underneath Griffith Park. Gary understood perfectly, and told Jasper he was always welcome, so long as he gave them a heads up first. 

* * *

 March rolled around and the small jobs for Abrams trickled in. Look into this, fact find about that, spy on this suspected ghoul for a night or two and report back, track down this person and deliver a message. Jasper didn’t want to be paid in money. It wasn’t like he could go into a store. Instead, he was paid in supplies. Jasper gave Abrams a list of things he wanted - lamps, batteries, tools, cleaning materials, etc. A drop-off address was arranged a few blocks from his sanctum where Jasper could pick things up in secret.

Jasper spent an entire night sweeping and cleaning the accumulated grime from the rooms that he now called his home. Just because he looked like a monster, he reasoned, did not mean he had to live in filth. While he was cleaning, Jasper found a trap door in one of the rooms. He explored it carefully, and backtracked as soon as he realised where the passage beneath in lead to. This was another entrance to that labyrinth. As badly as Jasper wanted to know more about that mystery, he did not want to get trapped down there again.

On his way out, Jasper noticed one of the stones in the wall wasn’t flush with the others. Normally, this wouldn't be enough to give him pause, but something about this spiked his curiously. Jasper used the old knife he had to wedge the stone loose and discovered a large bundle wrapped in leather hidden in an alcove. Jasper replaced the stone and brought the bundle with him back into his sanctum. There, with extreme caution, he unwrapped it.

Inside the bundle was a large, thick book. Jasper all but trembled in anticipation as he opened it and looked through the delicate pages. It was handwritten, and Jasper guessed it must have been close to a hundred years old. Some of the writing was in English, but a lot of it seemed to be in Latin or other languages Jasper didn’t immediately recognise. There were diagrams of carvings he remembered seeing on the walls of the maze while he was trapped down there. A few times, he saw the word ‘labyrinth’ inscribed in the text. Jasper snarled in excitement. This was a book about the labyrinth, possibly written by the individual or individuals who had created it! Finally, Jasper had a piece to this puzzle. There was a lot in this book that was going to need translating and transcribing. Jasper was going to need an English-Latin dictionary, for a start.

Jasper’s excited train of thought was derailed by a message from Abrams. He wanted to see Jasper in his office, as soon as he was able. Jasper carefully stashed the book away, promising himself to dedicate time later to unraveling its mysteries.

* * *

Three Kindred were waiting for Jasper when he arrived at Abrams’ office. One was Abrams himself. There was also a very tell, well-built black man in a suit and a woman with long dark hair in an expensive dress and jewelry.

“Ah, here he is,” Abrams said when he saw Jasper. “Please, come in.”

“Apologies. I had a long walk to get here,” Jasper said. The other Kindred turned to see who had come in and both looked startled and appalled. The woman in particular seemed beyond shocked. Jasper found himself biting back a smirk.

“That’s fine,” Abrams said, dismissing Jasper’s apology. “Do you know of Victor Temple and Nelli G?”

“Yes, I’ve heard of them,” Jasper replied with a little smile. He knew of the Temple of Boom. It was very rapidly becoming a big name in the music industry. He had also heard of Thorn cosmetics. Both Victor Temple and Nelli Griffith had their names on buildings at Griffith College. Jasper found himself not very surprised to find out that these two big names who were so rarely seen in the light of day were Kindred.

For the first time in… well, he supposed for the first time since he had become a vampire, Jasper felt amusement. Nelli looked from Jasper to Abrams and back again. She glared at the Baron, wanting to demand some kind of explanation.

“Victor, Nelli, this is Jasper,” Abrams introduced.

Victor, to Jasper’s surprise, stood and held out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Jasper shook it. Victor had a strong grip, and didn’t flinch at Jasper’s touch.

“Isaac, you cannot be serious!” Nelli hissed.

Jasper noticed that she seemed familiar enough with the Baron to call Abrams by his first name.

“Nelli, I am completely serious,” Abrams told her in a tone that betrayed his patience starting to fray. “Jasper has the exact skill set you two are looking for.” Abrams gestured for Jasper to take a seat. He did so in a chair across from Victor and Nelli.

“But… look at him!” Nelli spluttered. “Look at what he’s wearing!”

Jasper tilted his head at her. “I’m sorry, do you have a problem?”

“I… you…!” Nelli took a deep breath and calmed herself. “I’m sorry, it’s just… we have a certain standard!”

Jasper chose to ignore this and addressed Abrams. “Sir, what is it you would like me to do?”

Abrams seemed to appreciate Jasper wanting to cut to the chase. “Victor is hosting the grand opening a new club in Hollywood this weekend. They have received some written threats from an anonymous individual implying that something unwanted is going to happen at this opening. Victor and Nelli came to me to see if I can help supply them with some… added security.”

“Ah, and I am to be that security,” Jasper summed up.

“Yes.”

Jasper looked at Victor and Nelli again. Nelli was biting her tongue and Victor had a friendly, if business-like smile. “I’m all about networking,” Victor told Jasper, “and I can help hook you up with anything you might need, man.”

“I’m… fine. Thanks,” Jasper said, even though that wasn’t the whole truth. Not even close.

Victor shrugged. “Well, Abrams recommends your skills, and everyone needs _something_.”

“I… look, you don’t have to worry about it. I’m… fine. But… I will take the job.” Jasper nodded to Abrams.

“Good. In that case, I’ll leave the three of you to sort out the details. Good evening.”

Jasper stood, knowing he was being dismissed. “Good evening, sir.”

“Good evening, and thank you,” Victor said, rising again.

“Good. Evening,” Nelli said tightly. She sauntered out of Abrams’ office in a huff. Victor held the elevator doors open for her and Jasper. Nelli was avoiding looking at him.

Jasper could feel something very trollish rising up inside him. He didn’t know quite what it was. Nelli and Victor both reminded him of Abrams in terms of wealth and awfulness. Nelli in particular seemed at first glance to be the ultimate rich bitch, the kind of person he had despised in life and now more so in death. He didn’t think either of them had spent months starving on the streets after their Embrace. They got to keep their good looks, too. If anything, they were _enhanced_. These were two people who were beautiful on the outside, but still monsters on the inside, unlike Jasper, who felt like a monster inside and out.

Still… they were going to report back to Abrams anything he did. He had no doubt Nelli would in particular. He wanted to have a little bit of fun with this, but not _too_ much fun. He stamped down on the urge to be an asshole… for now.

“Just to let the two of you know… I tend to disappear when moving around in public, if you know what I mean,” Jasper warned them as the elevator neared the bottom.

“Oh, yeah, of course,” Victor said. “Because of the…” He vaguely gestured in front of his face.

“Yeah, because of that. So… I’ll follow you to your… car? Limo?”

“To the car, yeah. We’ll head out to the club and tell you everything. It’s going to be fantastic! Wait until you see it. I’m calling it Club Maharajah,” Victor said proudly.

“Sure,” Jasper muttered, activating Unseen Passage and very much not caring what Victor called his club.

In Victor’s enormous, darkly tinted SUV Jasper let Obfuscate drop and received more information about the job. Victor did all the talking, sitting next to Jasper in the back. Nelli seemed to ignore them both, her face hidden behind large sunglasses.

“I bought this building three months ago to turn it into the club,” Victor explained. “It’s not in the _best_ corner of town, but I’m sure that this will help give it the boost it needs to become great! Everything is on track so far for the big opening this weekend, but we’ve gotten about a dozen threats. These letters have been left under the doors and stuck to the walls. No one has seen anything and nothing has been caught on security camera. Nelli thought it might be someone with your kind of skill set, so we went to Abrams to see if he could lend us an expert.”

In no way did Jasper feel like an expert at this, but a small part of him felt a tiny spark of pride.

Victor pulled out a bundle of paper from the back pocket of one of the SUV’s seats and passed them to Jasper. He flipped through them, reading some in the heavily filtered streetlights. The writing was very scratchy, difficult to read, and full of misspellings.

 

“ _DEAR MR TEMPL,_

_IF YOU DO NOT CLOZE YOUR CLUB AND LEAVE THEN I WILL BLOW EVRYTHNG UP!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARND MANY TIMES!!”_

 

_"DEAR MR TEMPL,_

_THIS BULDNG IS NOT YOURS FUCK OFF OR I WILL KILL YOU!!!”_

 

_“DEAR MR TEMPL._

_THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANSE TO LEAVE BEFOR I WILL DSTROY EVRYTHNG!!!”_

 

“Do you know if the building was occupied before you bought it?” Jasper asked.

“We had to evict some homeless people,” Victor admitted. “Just squatters and the like.”

“Hmm…” Jasper growled. “Looks like you might have made an enemy or two in doing that. I know that… sometimes, people like me hang out with the homeless.”

“Well, that’s why you’ve been brought on board! You’re going to help us make sure this opening goes silky smooth.”

“What about your… own security?” Jasper glanced at the driver. She was a tall woman with her hair back in a very tight ponytail. She had a very professional, no-nonsense air. She was also alive and breathing. Her dark eyes met Jasper’s in the rear view mirror for a moment. She did not seem afraid of him.

“I have a team who are very loyal to me,” Victor explained. “ _Very loyal_ , if you get my meaning, and they’ve taken every precaution they are able to, but… they’re only human. You’re going to be our…” Victor hesitated briefly, searching for the right word, “ _secret_ security, let’s say.”

“Will I have to wear a uniform?” Jasper snarked.

Victor chuckled. “Nah, man. You’ll be behind the scenes all night. Ideally, no one will see you and you’ll just… keep an eye out for trouble. Besides… I’m not hiring you formally.”

“Oh, good.”

Victor leaned back a little in his seat, looking Jasper up and down. “I’ve gotta say though... You make the whole black on black street thing work, dude. I like it.”

Jasper glared at Victor for a brief moment, angry that Victor thought he had any choice whatsoever in how he wanted to look. “Thanks.”

It didn’t take them long to get to their destination. It was obvious that a lot of hard work had gone into making Club Maharajah look spectacular for its opening weekend. Jasper entered with Nelli, Victor, and Victor’s driver. All around them, workmen scurried. Lights were fixed, a last coat of paint was applied and the kitchen and bars were stocked with food and drink. Victor’s security were all in suits, dotted here and there, keeping an eye on things. Victor called over the women who had driven them there.

“Proper introductions. Ib, this is Jasper. He is going to be extra, shall we say, _night time_ security for the big opening.”

“Hi, Ib,” Jasper said.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jasper noticed some of the other security men staring at him, terror etched momentarily across their features. Jasper glared at them. They glanced at their boss and something inside them that was stronger than their initial fear at Jasper’s appearance took over. They got back to work.

“Yes, sir,” Ib said with a professional nod.

“Now… you might not always see him, but assume that he might be around anyways, even if you don’t see him.”

“Yes sir,” Ib replied. Jasper was mildly surprised that she didn’t question this.

“And make sure everyone knows about him. I know he looks… a little unusual, but I don’t want any of the new guys getting jumpy and shooting him by accident.” Victor chuckled.

“Of course, sir.”

“Great! I’ll let you know if I need anything.”

“Yes, sir.” Ib turned quickly and left their presence.

“Question, Victor…” Jasper said as Victor led him around the ground floor of the club and towards the stairs that lead up to the offices and the VIP areas. Nelli bustled on ahead of them and Jasper was happy to let her go. “Your security… do they know about us?”

“They know everything they need to know,” Victor assured him. “As I’ve said, they’re _very_ loyal. Like, don’t go around spilling every secret of the Masquerade to them,” he chuckled quietly, “but if you need to feed or anything, just ask one and help yourself.”

Jasper hadn’t fed from a human in a very long time. Every time he had, he ended up killing the person. He knew now that there were ways to feed without killing, but it was something he still struggled with. The thought of human blood was starting to turn his stomach. He’d rather eat rats if he had to… or another Kindred. But no… here and now, that was out of the question. In any case, he doubted very much that feeding from Victor’s men was a good idea, even if he had permission.

“Thanks, but I’ll be alright.”

Victor shrugged. “Sure. Well, the offer’s there.”

Victor gave Jasper a brief tour of the club, showing the offices, VIP lounges, dance floor, kitchens and the basement. He had set up some private, vampire-safe quarters down there and was proud of himself for remembering to do so. “There’s a manhole out there, through that door,” Victor told Jasper. “So if you ever need to beat a hasty exit, you can. You do use the sewers, right?”

“Yeah, if I have to,” Jasper said with a small snarl.

“Cool, cool, cool. So… yeah, that’s it. Feel free to look around for tonight. Take your time, be through.” He took out his phone. “Give me your cell number, so we can keep in touch.”

Jasper swapped phone numbers with Victor.

“Great, thanks. Alright. I’m going to go take care of some things, and leave you to it, but… Jasper, I want to say thanks for helping us with this. I know you’re only here because of Abrams, but, I just want to let you know that _I_ appreciate it.” Victor put a big dark hand to his own chest to emphasise the point of his gratitude. “And I’m sorry about Nelli. You know how Toreador can be,” he chuckled awkwardly. “She likes her fashion and her pretty things, but she’ll come around. Don’t let her get to you.”

Jasper smiled, showing fangs, quietly pleased by Victor. “Don’t worry, I won’t.”

“Alright. I’ll see you later. Make sure you’re here ten p.m. sharp on Saturday night. The doors open at eleven and I want to make sure that everything is silky smooth.”

“Sure,” Jasper agreed. He wasn’t so sure about how ‘silky smooth’ things were going to be with himself around. He was about as far from ‘silky’ or ‘smooth’ as one could get. Still, he was going to do his job, and do it as best he could. 

* * *

The night of Club Maharajah’s grand opening, Jasper was there on time and invisible. He texted Victor to let him know he was there and on the job. Victor was pleased. He let Jasper get on with it.

Jasper checked the building from the basement to the roof and back again. Everything seemed fine, so far as he could tell. The club opened right on schedule and soon the whole building was shaking with the deep bass from the D.J. turntable. Jasper watched the dance floor from the shadows as it filled with people. Victor and Nelli had retreated to their VIP balcony. Jasper felt an odd sense of both loneliness and security. There were hundreds of people in this room. None of them knew he was there. Also, Jasper was starting to get hungry. The hateful, incessant whispers were starting in his head again and he could feel the Beast in his chest.

Jasper wanted to get away from the crowd, flashing lights and loud music. He decided to give the basement another sweep. He slipped silently down below.

He was glad he did. Jasper could hear movement as soon as he was far enough away from the speakers to hear anything other than the pounding club music. He knew that no one was allowed down there, but he had to check it out anyway, to make sure it wasn’t one of the other security guards.

Jasper took five steps into the darkness and tripped over something large and unseen. No, not something, _some one_. Coming into physical contact with another person forced Jasper’s Obfuscate to fall away, but it also did the same for the individual he had tripped over. Jasper saw pale, greyish skin, a long, filthy brown coat and huge bat-like ears. It was another Kindred, more than that, another Nosferatu! He had with him a bulky, heavy looking bag. The strange Kindred locked eyes with Jasper, hissed, dropped the bag, and made a break for it. Jasper ran after him.

Jasper managed to catch him just as they reached the exit that lead down into the sewer. The stranger had lifted the iron manhole lid to try to escape but Jasper stomped down on it. The lid clanged onto the stranger’s hand, breaking fingers and making him roar in pain. Jasper jumped him, pinning him to the ground. They fought, snarling and growling, but Jasper was stronger and was able to hold him.

Something inside Jasper stirred to attention. There was the scent of the stranger’s Vitae in the air from his hand injury. Jasper snarled to himself, fighting down the urge to bite the wriggling, growling intruder.

“Let me go!”

“No, don’t think so.” Jasper pulled out his phone and texted Victor.

‘Caught an intruder. Outside by manhole.’

He received a reply quickly. ‘Get him inside. We’re coming down.’

Jasper hefted the caught Kindred up to his feet, arms pulled back sharply behind him, and frog marched him back into the Maharajah’s basement.

Victor and Nelli both met them shortly after. Ib was right behind them, her hand on the gun in her hip holster. Victor immediately made eye contact with the stranger and told him to sit down and keep still. To Jasper’s surprise, the other Nosferatu started to obey him. Jasper kept his grip on him though, just in case.

Jasper nodded back towards the dark corner where he had tripped over him. “He had a bag over there.”

“Ib, check it out,” Victor ordered.

Ib did as she was asked. She carefully unzipped the bag and examined what was inside. “It’s a bomb, sir.”

Nelli and Victor gasped. “What?”

“A bomb,” Ib repeated calmly. “But I don’t think it’s armed.”

“Can you get rid of it, carefully?” Victor asked.

“Yes, sir, but he might have a remote for it, or it might be on a timer. You had better question him.”

“Right.” Victor glared at the intruder, then turned to Nelli. “Do you mind doing the asking? I can order him around, but you might be able to get the truth out of him easier.”

Nelli sighed. “Yes, alright.” She stepped forward and suddenly she became the most beautiful person Jasper had ever seen. He stared at her in awe for a few seconds, before trying to shake it off with a snarl. His prisoner seemed unable to shake it. “Who are you?” Nelli demanded.

“Steve,” he hissed.

“Steve, you’re going to answer me truthfully, yes?”

“Yeah,” he said in a star-struck, breathy snarl.

“Is your bomb armed?”

“Nah, needs my remote.”

Nelli held out an elegant gloved hand. “Give me the remote.”

“‘S in my pocket…”

Nelli sighed again. “Jasper, can you fish it out of his pocket for me?”

Jasper growled, but did as she asked. He groped through two pockets of the filthy coat before he found it. It was hand made from what looked like an old television remote. He handed it to Nelli, who passed it to Ib.

“Get it out of here, carefully, please, Ib?” Victor asked.

“Yes, sir.” Ib departed swiftly with the bomb and remote.

Nelli glared at Steve, who was still looking at her with big, sorrowful eyes. “Were you the one sending threats?”

“Yeah,” he admitted.

“Why?”

“‘Cos this was _my_ patch, and all of a sudden, Mr Temple’s building a club on it!”

“You should have appealed to Abrams before trying to blow up the building,” Nelli scolded.

“Who’s that, eh? I don’t know no Abrams. All I know, Miss, is that Mr Temple moved in, evicted my ‘erd, and I sent him lots of warnings, and now I’m here to blow this building up, in revenge, you understand.”

Nelli’s glare increased several notches. Victor looked none-too thrilled, but smug. They had caught the bastard before he had a chance to do anything, after all.

“But I don’t wanna blow you up, Miss,” Steve added bashfully.

“Thanks,” she said with deep sarcasm. “Is there anything else we should know? Are you alone?”

“Yup. All my myself.”

“Not… affiliated with anyone?”

“Nope. Just by myself. I’m a free agent! You want to come with me?” he asked hopefully.

“Ugh, _God no_ ,” Nelli sneered. She turned her gaze up to Jasper, who didn’t meet her eye. He wasn’t sure what this… love power was, but he didn’t like it. “I think you can take him away, please. He’s done.”

Victor adjusted his tie and beamed at Jasper. “Thanks, man. Good catch!”

“Thanks,” Jasper growled. “I’ll… get rid of him, and I’ll be back.”

“Don’t just let him go!” Nelli snapped.

“I’m not. Don’t worry. Trust me.”

Nelli looked reluctant, but Victor put a hand on her arm. “He’s got this, Nelli.”

“Well… okay. Fine.”

“I’ll have the guys make another sweep down here for any other bombs or anything,” Victor said. “Jasper you… go do whatever it is you’re gonna do to him.”

Jasper nodded and dragged Steve back out the door.

As soon as Steve was out of sight of Nelli, he started to hiss, kick and fight back again. With a hungry snarl, Jasper grabbed his head and slammed it against the concrete. There was a sickening crack and Steve went still. Jasper heaved open the manhole and dumped Steve’s body none-too-gently inside. He followed swiftly after it.

 _“You’ve got him now…”_ hissed the Beast in Jasper’s head. _“He’s all ours!”_

Jasper did not disagree. He was hungry, and he was going to feed.

He picked Steve’s body up and sank his fangs into the foul flesh at his throat. Steve wriggled weakly, trying to resist. Jasper drank deeply, swallowing the potent Vitae and feeling it flow into his body. Though his Beast urged him to continue, Jasper forced himself back after a few swallows. He did not want another situation like the one he had left behind on the labyrinth. Using his knife, he cut off Steve’s head, making sure to do a good job of it this time. The body started to quickly decay and rot. Jasper scattered the bits that remained up and down the dark tunnels and returned to the surface.

‘Taken care of,’ he texted Victor.

‘Good!’ Came the reply. ‘Thank you! You’re welcome to hang out the rest of the night, make sure there’s no other problems.’

‘Ok.’

The rest of the evening passed uneventfully for Jasper. The club closed around two in the morning, and cleaners soon took the place of dancers, starting to clear away the mess they had made.

Victor and Nelli caught up with Jasper in Victor’s office. Victor was tired, but super stoked. So far as he was concerned, his club’s grand opening was a success.

“Thanks again, man. You caught that guy. Fantastic!”

Jasper shrugged. He had been lucky and had literally stumbled upon him in the dark. Turns out that Obfuscated Kindred can’t easily detect other Obfuscated Kindred.

“What did you do with him?” Nelli asked with suspicion.

“I cut his head off,” Jasper replied bluntly.

They blinked at him in surprise. “Oh…”

“What?” Jasper asked.

“Well… that’s efficient,” Nelli said.

Victor nodded. “Hey, um… we’re going to go back to the college to sleep. You’re welcome to join us if you need a place to crash.”

Jasper frowned. “The college?”

“We have a haven at Griffith College. It’s our main domain, other than this place. You did good, Jasper, and Nelli and I were talking and… we think we’d like you to stick around, if you’d like.”

Jasper’s first instinct was to say no. He didn’t necessarily enjoy their company and he already had a place to sleep.

“Thanks, but… I’ve got a place already.”

“Yeah, sure. Not a problem, man.” Victor held out his hand for Jasper to shake again. “You’ve got my number. Feel free to hit me up. I owe you one for tonight.”

Jasper shook Victor’s hand again. “Sure. Um… I’ll see you around, I guess.”

They bid him a good night and Jasper headed off, down into the sewers, back towards his sanctum.

As Jasper walked, he texted Abrams, letting him know the job was done and it had gone well. He received an affirmative reply.

Jasper had a fairly long way to walk to get home. It gave him time to think.

He had attended Griffith College when he was alive. Chloe did too. Unless she dropped out since Jasper had seen her last, she was still there.

Jasper felt pain in his chest thinking of her, missing her, desperately wanting to see her. The last time he had thought about finding her, he had ended up being distracted and stumbling upon the labyrinth instead.

He knew that he _shouldn’t_ see her. He knew about the Masquerade now. Visiting Chloe and having her find out about him would definitely break it. He had no way to hide the fact that he was no longer human from her. This was a very dangerous thing to attempt.

But still…

Jasper wanted to make sure she was okay. If he could just lay eyes on her for a moment, or maybe two, and make sure she was in one piece… well, that should be alright, right? Especially if he did it using his new stealthy powers. No one, including Victor and Nelli, ever needed to know he was there.

Jasper crawled back up to the streets, just at the edge of the campus grounds. He cloaked himself with Unseen Passage and slipped silently, invisibly, across to where he remembered Chloe’s dorm room to be. He climbed up to her window, quietly hoping that she would still be there, that she hadn’t moved or dropped out.

_Please, please…!_

He peeked into her bedroom window. He could just see her around the edge of the curtain, asleep in bed. Her red hair was sprawled across the pillow. There was a bottle of sleeping pills on her bedside table and a half-empty glass of water. She looked sad in her sleep, but she was alive and breathing.

Jasper bit his lip and swallowed.

 _“If I take Victor up on his offer… I can check on her every night if I wanted to,”_ he thought to himself. _“I can make sure she’s okay. This is a much more dangerous place than we ever dreamed it could be. Oh, God… what if whoever did this to me found her and did the same to her? What if another Kindred did? I’ve got to make sure Chloe is okay. I need to keep an eye on her...”_

Silent as a ghost, Jasper slipped back down to the ground and hid in the dark shadows next to the building. He pulled out his phone and sent Victor a message.

‘Changed my mind. Will join you on campus tomorrow night.’

‘Great! See you tomorrow.’

Jasper put his phone away and cast one more sad glance up to Chloe’s window.

His sigh had a dark and lonely snarl in it.

Jasper slunk away into the night, headed back towards the L.A. River.


	6. April

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper gets on with his unlife.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had bits of this chapter written many months ago, and several details, including the IKEA decorating and charity shop bin diving, have since been conformed as semi-canon. I feel very validated!

Jasper was in bed with Chloe. They were sweaty, tousled, breathless and naked. Their first time making love had not been planned. She had kissed him, he had gotten bold with his hands, and the next thing either of them knew, clothing was being discarded and they were falling to her bed in a tangle of limbs and passionate sighs and moaning.

Now, in their afterglow, Chloe couldn’t help but giggle. She snuggled up to Jasper's warm, lean torso and ran her fingers through his soft patch of chest hair. “That was...”

“Fun?” he offered, sliding a long arm around her.

“Fun,” she confirmed.

“Worth a second round?” he asked hopefully.

Chloe blushed. “Slow down, cowboy, give a girl a minute or two to recover.”

“'Cowboy?'” He arched an eyebrow at her.

She smiled at him and kissed his lips. “Sure... you know what they say... 'save a horse, ride a cowboy.'”

Jasper smiled. “I'm not a cowboy.”

“Oh, are you too Goth to be a cowboy? I can totally see you with spurs and a black hat... maybe in chaps.”

“I am _not_ wearing chaps!” he laughed.

“Not even for me?”

Jasper moved, rolling them over so he lay on top of her. “No. I'd rather die.” He kissed her deeply, already so in love he thought his heart would burst.

Chloe stiffened suddenly and pulled out of the kiss. “Jasper?”

“What?”

Her hand was on his chest again. “You're so cold...”

Jasper blinked, confused. “What?”

Chloe's voice suddenly seemed to come from far away. She sounded sad and frightened. “Jasper?”

“Chloe? What...?”

“ _Jasper?!_ ”

Jasper's eyes blinked open. He was laying alone on the cold, hard ground in a dark underground room. He had no heartbeat. He wasn't breathing. His body was cold. His mouth was full of long, sharp fangs. He was aware of a terrible hunger in his chest and throat. Jasper curled into a tight ball, laying on his side. His eyes stung. He blinked and swallowed hard.

“Shit...” he muttered to himself.

* * *

Jasper decided that he was overdue for some self-improvement, and that this was the month he was going to really start to make the best of things. If he was going to be... not “living,” he wanted to get that word out of his mind all together. If he was going to be _existing_ here for the next foreseeable future, there was no reason why he shouldn’t try to make it more... comfortable. That meant furniture. That also meant light, books and music. He could make do with battery power for a while, but he had a dream of one night rewiring this place to have electricity, once he could work out how to do so safely and undetected.

In the meantime, Jasper took to stalking the handful of charity shops that were in easy walking distance of his little haven. He would raid the bins and store fronts where people dumped things for the workers to find the next day. The weekends were best for this, and the Easter public holidays were particularly golden. No Salvation Army or Goodwill within ten miles was safe. Jasper acquired a plain black backpack and stuffed it full of ‘donated’ treasures every night. Every black hoodie and dark pair of jeans that even remotely fit him were his. He had a hard time finding shoes, but persistence paid off eventually and he found some sneakers that would fit. He hated them, but they were better than nothing. He dug through boxes of books, picking out novels and paperbacks. On one lucky night, he found a battery powered miniature stereo. Someone else had dumped a box of CDs and Jasper helped himself. He stayed away from the children's fare, but he pillaged the classical music. He was particularly excited to find a copy of Carl Orff's _Carmina Burana_ that didn't have any scratches on the disk.

He asked Eva to help him acquire some things as well, particularly of a more occult nature. Eva had been right about his thirst for knowledge not dying. Now he could be privy to all kinds of occult information that he would never have known about in life.  Eva was more than happy to pass on to him any books she had that she no longer wanted. She seemed glad that he had projects on the go. If his mind and his hands were busy, he would be less focused on his misery. Jasper suspected that she was also glad to have someone of a similar mind to talk to. Jasper thought that perhaps Eva seemed a little lonely sometimes, but he wasn’t one to talk about that. Pot, kettle.

* * *

One damp night, Jasper trekked up to the Observatory with a special request. He found Eva under a tree, watching the rain.

“Hello, Eva.”

She smiled when she saw him. She was the only one who ever did that.

“Hello, Jasper. Come here, out of the rain.”

Jasper had not minded the wet. It wasn’t like he had to worry about catching the flu any more. Still, he moved closer to her.

“How have you been?” Eva asked.

Jasper sighed. “It’s been a struggle, but… I’ve been trying to make things better.”

“That’s good. How so?”

“I’ve been reading again and finding other things to do, keeping busy.”

“I’m glad, Jasper.”

“Have you been well?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Jasper enjoyed talking to Eva. Small talk never seemed forced with her. She was calm and quiet and seemed to genuinely enjoy his company. She never appeared to want to try to pressure Jasper into anything but his own continued survival.

“Eva, can I ask a favour of you?”

“You may ask,” she said with a sly little smile.

“Do you have an English-Latin dictionary?”

Eva shook her head. “I do not, sorry.”

Jasper sighed a little, trying not to seem too disappointed.

“But I can find one for you,” Eva added.

Jasper brightened. “Oh, that would be great. Thank you.”

“You have something you need translating?”

Jasper thought for a moment about telling her about the book he had found, and the labyrinth, but something made him hesitate. That seemed like the kind of information he should not give for free.

“Yeah, um… what would you like in return?”

“Well… if you find any books you think I might enjoy, I would consider that to be a fair trade.”

“Like… occult books?” Jasper asked. He thought that might be tricky, given her expertise. He doubted there were any occult books he could easily find that she hadn’t read yet.

“Not necessarily. I also like to read for pleasure. If you found a novel, I would enjoy that too.”

Jasper nodded. “I’ll keep my eye out.”

“Very good.” She gave him another kind smile, and he found himself returning it.

* * *

The best night that month was when he got a call saying that the furniture he had ordered from IKEA had arrived and it would be at the address the Baron of Hollywood had arranged with him. Abrams told him that Jasper didn't have to settle for stuff from IKEA, but Jasper insisted that's what he wanted.

“I like making things with my hands and... I want to put them together,” he said. “Besides, I don’t need anything fancy.”

Abrams shrugged and told Jasper to “suit yourself.”

Jasper had been looking forward to this more than he thought he would be. It took some work to get everything down into his sanctum, and he was glad of his new vampiric strength. It certainly made lugging the heavy boxes easier.

He took stock once all the boxes were safely in what he was temporarily calling his 'workshop.' He was the proud owner of two Billy bookcases in black-brown, an Ekenaset chair, a Hemmes coffee table, a Klimpen desk that he wanted to paint something other than grey, a Skadis pegboard and a Moppe set of miniature drawers for storage. Finally, there was the thing he was most excited for – a Songesand bed frame with mattress and bedding. He had chosen black sheets. He knew the bed might be a little short for how tall he was, but at this point he was just happy to sleep on something other than the floor for the first time since his Embrace. It was going to be good for his soul, both to put everything together, then to enjoy it. At last, he had shelves for his books, someplace to sit to read them and a place to store the other tools and equipment he was starting to acquire. This haven was going to become a home.

Jasper put his Carl Orff CD on for background music, lit all the battery lamps he had to read the instructions by, and opened up the box containing his bed frame first.

* * *

He visited Victor and Nelli at their Griffith College haven two or three times a week. He didn’t talk a lot with them, but shared just enough to seem social. It was only a token effort. Apparently, they didn’t expect a lot of socialisation from a Nosferatu and that suited Jasper just fine. Truth was, he wasn’t on campus grounds for them anyway.

He was there for Chloe.

Chloe spent many nights cooped up in her dorm. Jasper watched from under the cloak of Unseen Passage as her friends tried to get her out and back into society. It was Spring Break, after all. Los Angeles was starting to wake up as the nights got warmer. It was spring, and it was supposed to be a time of renewal.

_Supposed to be._

She did attend one party at the beginning of Easter break, but left early. Jasper followed her home. He got close enough to see her tears. It broke his heart that he was so close. She was within his reach. All he had to do was stretch his arm out and touch her... and yet he couldn't. He wanted to hold her, to tell her that things were going to be alright, but he couldn’t. It would have been nothing but a pack of lies.

Jasper made sure she got safely back inside her dorm. He knew he ought to leave then, but he couldn't help himself. He climbed up to her window and watched her as best he could through the little gap in her curtains.

Chloe got changed and took off her makeup. She plugged in her phone, dug out her laptop and sat on her bed to browse the internet, or perhaps study. Every few minutes, she would blow her nose. Jasper wasn’t sure if she was still crying, or if she had a cold. It could have been both.

Jasper sighed, leaning against the cold, solid outside wall. He asked himself what he was doing and why he was there.

_I have to make sure Chloe is okay._

_This is pointless. You’re dead. Leave her alone._

_No… so long as Chloe is okay, things will be alright._

_Don’t kid yourself, Jasper. Things will never be alright again._

_Will be… tolerable, then. Bearable._

Jasper stayed until Chloe put her computer away, turned off the light, and snuggled down to try to sleep. He ghosted his way back down to the ground and left the campus.

* * *

Jasper decided it would be a good idea to touch base with Gary Golden at least once a month. Gary seemed quite happy to have him around to Hollywood Forever for dinner and conversation. Sometimes, he would tell stories of the old Hollywood days. His childer, the vain Imalia and the fidgety Mitnick, would roll their eyes. They had heard these stories a hundred times before.

Hollywood Forever held a special movie event on the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Gary invited Jasper over for dinner with himself, Mitnick and Imalia. Jasper had no interest in watching the movie. It had been one of Chloe’s secret favourites. He was still glad of a chance to ask Gary about other stories and information about other Kindred clans and factions.

He learned a few details about the Ivory Tower, and how treacherous Kindred Politics could be. He had seen hints of this already, but some of the stories Gary had were horrific indeed. Fortunately, Gary didn’t seem to ask much of Jasper in return for this information.

“I’m feeling generous,” the old Nosferatu said with a crooked smile. “And besides! These are things all Kindred need to know.”

“You’re being too generous,” Imalia sneered. “Hasn’t he gotten enough free stuff?”

Jasper frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Well… did you never think about who might have covered up your mysterious and sudden disappearance?” she asked, picking at a piece of dirt on the shimmery blue gown she was wearing this evening.

“I didn’t think there was a cover up. I went missing, and eventually, I would be reported dead.”

“That’s not always the case!” Mitnick said. “There are still plenty of people out there who have been dead, or undead, for _years_ and they are still only listed as ‘missing’ so far as the records are concerned.”

“So… I’m assuming that you guys covered up my… disappearance?”

The other three Nosferatu shared a glance and a sly smile with each other. Jasper glared, not liking being out of the loop.

“Yeah, well, maybe not _us_ , specifically, but yeah… you’re not missing any more Jasper. So far as the state of California is concerned, you’re dead.” Imalia smirked.

Jasper didn’t know what to say about that. Inside, he was glad no one was out there looking for him still.

“You have a grave and everything!” Imalia added with a chuckle.

“Ah, now who’s the one who’s over-sharing!” Gary teased her.

Jasper blinked at them. Maybe it was because he hadn’t been a vampire for as long a they had and many things about Kindred life still seemed fresh and raw, but he didn’t think any of this was funny.

“Aww… look at his face!” Imalia snickered.

Jasper growled.

“Alright, alright,” Gary spread his arms in a calming gesture. “Imalia, leave him alone. Remember, it wasn’t so long ago you were, ha ha, faking your own death.”

Imalia glared at her sire and shut up.

Gary turned to Jasper. “Yes, unfortunately, Jasper, you have your very own grave. My condolences.”

“What did they bury?” Jasper asked as a thought occurred to him. “They obviously didn’t recover my body, so what did they bury?”

“A coffin that was secretly empty.”

“Where am I… interred?”

“East Los Angeles Cemetery,” Gary answered. “I can show you, if you wish, as one last free favour, shall we say?”

Jasper considered this very seriously for a few seconds before nodding. “Yes, please.”

“Very well!”

Jasper and Gary left one cemetery to head for another, both cloaked with Obfuscate. The one they were headed to was much smaller and quieter than the one they came from. There was no one around, just lane after lane of headstones.

Jasper’s grave was in a back corner. Someone had paid to get him a granite headstone, but there was no epitaph. His first and last name were sandblasted into the stone along with his year of birth and his year of death. Otherwise, the stone was blank. A sad, wilted bouquet of flowers had been left at the grave. Jasper stood very still and very quiet, staring at it.

“Here we are,” Gary said in a low voice.

Jasper blinked and looked at him. He had been so distracted by the cold, hard reality that was his grave that he had almost forgotten the older Nosferatu was there.

“It’s a lovely grave, if I do say so,” Gary said. “Clean and simple.”

“Do you have a grave?”

“Oh yes, over in Hollywood Forever,” he chuckled. “I don’t get many flowers on mine any more, but every now and then some film student will have a look and give tribute.”

Jasper assumed that the flowers on his grave were from Chloe. He hesitated, then picked them up. The lilies were very wilted and starting to rot. He picked a few petals that still seemed okay and laid the rest back down. Gary didn’t say anything.

“Thanks for taking me here… and for dinner,” Jasper said.

“But of course,” Gary grinned.

“Do you know… who did this to me?” Jasper asked.

“If I did, that information would cost you.”

“But do you?” Jasper pressed.

“Not for certain, no.”

Jasper sighed. He wanted to press Gary for further information, but decided not to, not this night. “Alright. I’m going to… go home. Thank you again.”

“Good evening,” Gary said with a nod. He stepped backwards into the shadows and vanished from view.

Jasper cast one last look at his gravestone.

  **Jasper Heartwood**

**1989 – 2013**

Dark thoughts swarmed through his brain. Once again, he considered waiting for the dawn to claim him. Let his ashes be spread over his grave.

Jasper growled to himself and turned away. He headed back towards the L.A. River, carrying his lily petals gently in his hands.

* * *

On another night, late in the month, Jasper prowled towards a Goodwill that he hadn't been to for a while. He was hoping to find some more clothes or books, maybe even some light furniture if he was lucky. He also still needed a novel for Eva so he could trade it for an English to Latin dictionary.

Once there, he browsed quickly through a box of books left by the Goodwill door. His eyes quickly skimmed over the covers. He selected a copy of  _Frankenstein_ , hoping that Eva would like Mary Shelly and finding himself suddenly relating to the creature in that story a lot more than he used to. He hesitated over another book, _Good Omens_ by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, then took it anyway as a backup in case she wasn’t in a _Frankenstein_ mood.

Next, Jasper pulled open the bin for donated clothing and started to dig through. There were lots to pick from, but nothing obviously his ‘style’ or size. He shifted, trying to dig deeper without falling in, and kicked something by accident. He pulled his upper torso out of the bin to look. Jasper froze in surprise. There, wedged between the charity clothes bin and a garbage can was a cardboard box that had his name on it scrawled in messy black pen. He closed the lid on the charity bin and hesitantly opened the box.

It was _full_ of clothing. Jasper found several pairs of black skinny jeans, some with holes in the knees, black long sleeved shirts, dark coloured t-shirts, and a few dark hoodies. At the bottom was a slightly worn but still serviceable pair of doc martens. It was perfect. It was literally everything like what he was looking for. There was only one problem – he recognised it all, every item of clothing. These were _his_ jeans, _his_ shirts, _his_ shoes, all from his old home on the college campus, all shoved in a box with his name on it and dropped outside a Goodwill.

Right at the bottom, almost crushed under everything else, was a photo frame. The photo inside the frame was Chloe’s. Jasper remembered this. It used to be on his bedside table. Chloe looked slightly surprised in the picture, like she hadn’t known her photo was about to be taken. Jasper growled sadly, looking at this treasure. It felt like something inside his chest was tearing into pieces.

For a second Jasper was paranoid. Did someone know that he would be here this night? Did someone leave this for him on purpose to find? He glanced around, up and down the street, but all he saw was a raccoon watching him from the base of a tree. The animal hissed at him and scampered away. He looked at the outside of the cardboard box again, trying to find a clue. He recognised the writing on the box lid as belonging to his mother. He felt another pang in his dead heart. It had been forever since he had thought of her. She had packed this box full of his clothes, shoved in a picture of his girlfriend, kept them for a few months after his disappearance and death and then...

… and then dropped them off for charity. She didn't need or want them any more.

He growled again to himself. It was a dark, sad, animalistic sound.

Well, at least he knew these clothes would fit. And they _were_ his, after all. He shoved all the clothes into his bag to carry them back to his sanctum, starting with the docs at the bottom and rolling up the fabric tight to fit everything in. He gently placed the photo on top, so as not to damage the frame. He crushed up the empty box and shoved it into the garbage.

Jasper stormed home, in an odd, foul mood. He left the rest of the donations outside the store unmolested.


	7. May

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper obtains his first prisoner.

One mild night in early May, Isaac Abrams called Jasper into his office in downtown Hollywood. All he told Jasper over the phone was that he had a “job” for him. Jasper was intrigued and willing. The things Abrams had asked him to do so far had paid off for him in many important ways. His sanctum was reasonably furnished now, enough to suit Jasper’s meagre needs. He had a small, but growing collection of literature and a wardrobe that meant he didn’t have to wear the exact same thing every night for a week if he didn’t want to.

Abrams started by asking Jasper if he had a secure haven to sleep in.

“Yes,” Jasper said.

“How secure is it?”

Jasper hesitated. He was very reluctant to let anyone, even the Baron, know where he slept. He did not want anyone to take his sanctum, or the labyrinth, away from him. He hadn’t been brave enough to explore it too deeply yet, but he had started to translate the mysterious book he had found.

“It’s very secure. It’s underground, with very thick concrete walls and no windows.”

“Do you share it with anyone?”

“No, sir. I value my privacy.”

“Hmm…” Abrams mused over some paperwork, and slid it to Jasper across his desk. They were plans for a large, iron, prison-type cell. “I am looking for someone who can help me keep dangerous Kindred off the streets. I’m talking about those who break the Masquerade, political prisoners from the Ivory Tower, and the like. Would you be able to make something like this if I provide you with the materials, and are you willing to keep prisoners in your sanctum?

Jasper didn’t know what to say at first. Part of him wanted to say no, but… this was a big opportunity. It would gain him favour from the Baron, and that favour was valuable indeed. It also would provide him with… other opportunities. The kind of dark opportunities that he might have balked at as a human. He wasn’t human any more though. 

He had learned very quickly that almost every Kindred he met was a dangerous, selfish monster. No one did anything for free. All anyone wanted to do was keep one step ahead of everyone else. If he was going to survive at all, and his Beast had an extremely strong survival instinct, he was going to have to play this game. Jasper had vowed to himself never to drink human blood ever again. Humans were not his enemy. They were not the ones who had ruined his life, had ripped him away from Chloe. That was Kindred. Kindred were, by in large, evil. Jasper included himself in that. Most other vampires he felt justified in hurting and drinking from. Besides… their blood was a million times better than any mortal’s. It was all his Beast wanted him to consume any more. It was almost as if Kindred Vitae was the most addictive drink in the world.

The only exception Jasper could possibly think of for a non-horrible Kindred was Eva. Eva was every kind of good and gentle monster Jasper could never hope to be. She didn’t want to hurt anyone. She wanted to be left in peace with her magic, her books, and the stars. Jasper was a little bit envious of Eva, but mostly he admired her. He thought it was too late for him to have that kind of unlife, however much he wished it. He wasn't going to let that stop him from doing whatever he could to protect Eva though. The world was far better with her in it than without.

The biggest problem Jasper faced with no longer wanting to feed from mortals was, well… if he stalked the streets attacking Kindred at random, someone powerful like Abrams would soon call for Jasper’s head. He couldn't easily develop a group of Kindred for himself to feed from, like Victor Temple’s heard of security. But… if he kept them in a cage, safe and close at hand, and with the express permission of the Baron of Hollywood…

“Well?” Abrams prompted.

“Yes,” Jasper answered. “If you give me the resources, I’ll build a cage, but I want a few things in return.”

“And what are those?”

“I want electricity,” Jasper said. “I’ve been running everything off of batteries and I want something other than that. I don’t care if it’s a generator, or if I can be wired into the city’s power somehow...”

Abrams considered this for a moment. “Done.”

“Thank you. I also want assurance that if I harm or kill any prisoners in self-defense, I won’t be punished. I haven’t been around as long as some, but I’ve already seen there are some very strong and violent Kindred out there, and I will defend myself with extreme violence if I have to.”

Jasper waited while Abrams considered that too. He was nervous for a moment that he might have stepped too far, but the old Toreador smiled.

“Very well,” Abrams said. “I will give you my word, as Baron of Hollywood, that you may use lethal force in self defense if it calls for it, but please do try to keep at least the most important prisoners in one piece. Also, you are not to ask questions about why these Kindred need to be locked up. You will take my word for it that they do and that will be final. Is that clear?”

Jasper nodded. “Yes.”

“Good. The materials will be at the drop-off address tomorrow night. Have the cell ready as soon as you can and let me know. I will have your first assignment soon.”

* * *

It had been hard work constructing the first cage on his own, but Jasper was extremely proud of himself when it was done. He pulled and pushed on the bars, using his own unnatural strength against them, and any time anything budged, he would go back in to strengthen them again.

It turned out that it wasn’t too difficult to wire his sanctum into the city’s network. Abrams handled the bureaucratic side of things and Jasper laid the cables, snaking them down through hidden areas of his tunnels. Jasper wasn’t an electrician. He had to do some research to make sure he wired things correctly. The last thing he wanted was to start a fire down there. The thought made him shudder and his Beast squirm. He had to get this right the first time.

The first time he plugged in a lamp and it turned on without batteries, Jasper was extremely satisfied.

He let Abrams know he was ready to receive ‘guests.’

Abrams called him back the next night and asked him to come to his office. He had a “job” for him.

After he arrived at the Baron’s office, Abrams handed Jasper a dossier in a blank manilla folder. Inside were images taken from the grainy footage of a cheap security camera. They showed a person in a black leather motorcycle jacket quite literally ripping a man apart. The killer seemed to be bald, but had a feminine body under the jacket. Additionally, there were police reports of many men found drained of blood, decapitated, dismembered and disemboweled. There were other security camera images of the same woman riding a motorcycle without a helmet.

“Apparently,” Abrams said as Jasper read the reports, “she goes by the name ‘Talon.’ She’s a Gangrel. My sources suspect that she was once Laura Freeman, a San Diego woman who fled to Mexico to escape her abusive boyfriend and apparently died when a violent motorcycle gang attacked the motel she was staying in.”

“Mm,” Jasper growled. There was a photo of Laura in the dossier as well. It was difficult to tell given the poor quality of the photos of the violent Kindred in question, but if Laura had shaved her head, put on a leather jacket and grown a handful of deadly claws, she could very well be this ‘Talon.’ Jasper was not surprised to see the name of Laura Freeman’s boyfriend was in the list of the murder victims supposedly connected to Talon.

“She represents a very dangerous Masquerade risk,” Abrams continued. “She drains her victims and leaves them in places where they are too easy to find. She has been caught on camera using Kindred disciplines. She has been sighted recently in Hollywood. She needs to be taken off of _my_ streets. I am tasking you with this job. Imprison her, kill her if you like, or stake her and drop her down a ravine in Griffith Park. I don’t care. Just get rid of her. Can you handle this?”

Jasper looked up at him. This was going to be a supremely dangerous job. He knew that if he said no, his short but so far good reputation with the Baron would be tarnished. It was because of Abrams that he had electricity and furniture in his sanctum. Jasper wanted to earn his keep.

And if he died in the attempt, well… Jasper would be okay with that.

“Yes,” he answered.

“Good. Get it done. You are dismissed. Good evening.”

“Good evening,” Jasper said. He closed the folder, turned on his heel and left the presence of the Baron of Hollywood.

* * *

It took Jasper three nights to track Talon down. He eventually found her at a biker bar at the edge of the city. He figured that this would be the kind of place to find her. It was the fifth one he had visited. He finally recognised her motorcycle outside from the photos he had been given. He snuck inside the bar under the cloak of Obfuscate and soon spotted Talon.

She was shorter than him, stocky, and had the build of a female boxer. Her head had been shaved, but dark hair had been starting to grow back in when she was Embraced. She was playing pool and had a very strong ‘don’t fuck with me’ vibe. 

The bar was too full for Jasper to make a move. He was going to have to wait for Talon to leave. He watched her finish her game, get in an argument with other bikers about cheating, and break a bottle over one guy’s head. The bartender kicked her out before a fight could break out. She left the bar giving the room double middle fingers and daring any of them to follow her. None of them did, save for Jasper.

Getting out of the bar was difficult for him. He had to dodge around several very large men and he had to do so without drawing any attention to himself. He heard the engine of Talon’s bike fire up and growled quietly. He made it outside just in time to see her drive off.

“Shit!” Jasper cursed. He couldn't let her get away. He had to do something!

He ran forward a few feet and leaped as high and as far as he could, which was considerably much further and higher than he ever could as a human. He bounded once, twice, three times after the motorcycle and caught up with it. He slammed as hard as he could into Talon and knocked her off the bike. Motorcycle and Kindred went sprawling painfully across the pavement.

Talon snarled in fury at the now very visible Nosferatu. Her jacket had protected her from a lot of road rash, but Jasper’s hoodie offered him no such protection. He was scraped raw down one side. His skin stung and bled. He was barely ready for Talon when she pounced on him with an inhuman, angry roar. They both tumbled off the side of the road together, down a steep embankment and into a line of trees.

Jasper managed to get his knife in his hand and swiped at Talon. Her fingernails lengthened and sharpened before his very eyes into the same deadly set of vicious claws he had seen her use in the photos in the dossier. She came at him again, clawing and biting like a wild cat and making the same kinds of roars. Jasper stabbed and slashed, hissing and snarling in effort and pain. She tried to grab him in a headlock which he only barely managed to wriggle out of. Jasper succeeded in getting his legs between them and kicked her away as hard as he could. The Gangrel sprawled, crashing backwards into a tree. 

Jasper leaped at her again, desperate not to give her a second to recover herself. Talon was strong and tough, but Jasper thought he was a little bit stronger. He had to incapacitate her. He grabbed Talon’s right arm and bent it back sharply against the tree, snapping the bones. She roared again in pain and sliced him across the face with her other hand.

Jasper was blinded by blood and fresh, sharp agony. He lunged at her again, mouth open to bite, and hit home on the Gangrel’s throat.

Talon tried to push him off, but he held her firm and drank the feral, gamy Vitae that flowed into his mouth. He swallowed twice, then pulled back, grabbed her face, and slammed her head hard enough into the tree trunk to shake leaves loose.

Talon’s body slumped unconscious to the dirt. Snarling to himself, Jasper grabbed out a length to rope and hogtied her. It looked painful, particularly given her broken arm, but in that moment, he didn’t care.

Jasper stepped back. His body trembled in pain and fading excitement from the fight. His arms, face and torso were covered in deep claw marks. His hoodie was ruined. The road rash still stung. This had been the most difficult fight he had been in so far.

But he had won.

His Beast was excited, and urged him to drink more from her. _“Abrams won’t care! He wants her gone…”_

Jasper steadied himself against another tree, growling and rumbling. No… he shouldn't finish her now. Yes, he was going to take her off the streets, but she was valuable. More precisely, her blood was valuable. If Jasper was going to stop drinking from humans all together, he was going to need a semi-reliable source of Vitae. He had been pacing himself these past few weeks, careful not to do too many things that might rouse his Beast. _“You have a very reliable source of Vitae right here at your feet,”_ hissed a voice inside him. Besides, he needed to test out his new cage, to make one hundred percent sure it was strong enough.

Jasper hefted Talon up, slung her over his back, and carried her home.

The Gangrel was starting to come around by the time Jasper made it down into the cool darkness of his sanctum. She snarled and thrashed, pulling against the ropes and hissing in pain. Jasper dumped her in the newly-finished cell and backed out quickly. He closed the door and locked it. Talon glared at him with a venomous fury.

“Who the _fuck_ do you think you are?!” she snarled.

“Doesn’t matter who I am,” Jasper snarled back. “You’re Talon, right?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Oh, good,” Jasper sighed. “I have the right one.”

“Did Butcher put you up to this?” Talon demanded, trying to wriggle out of her bonds. Under the leather biker jacket, Jasper could see a lot of dark tattoos up and down her arms. “Ha, ha, big joke!”

“No. I don’t know Butcher.”

“Then who the fuck are you and why did you attack me?!”

“Doesn’t matter,” Jasper said again. He left the room, cracking his neck and shoulders, sore all over from the fight. He could hear Talon swearing at him in English and Spanish. He sent Abrams a quick text saying he had captured Talon and she was officially off the streets. Then, with another sigh and a growl, he went into his bedroom to heal and to try to mend his clothing.

* * *

It took a few nights for Jasper to heal all the damage Talon had done to him. Gangrel claws were nothing to laugh at. Talon eventually broke free of her ropes and healed some of her own wounds, but she was unable to break out of her cage. Jasper had built it well, and he was glad. 

“When I get out of here, I’m going to kill you slow,” she growled at him, pacing back and forth. “I’ll slice you open from neck to navel and hang you with your own intestines.”

Jasper had no doubt she meant it too.

“Are you just going to let me starve in here?!” Talon roared, slamming her fists against the bars. “ _Cabrón!_ ”

“No,” Jasper said calmly. “I’m going to go hunting for you… and then _I’m_ going to feed as well.”

Talon hissed at him. Jasper ignored it and headed out and towards the college. He wanted to hunt there because Victor and Nelli had given him permission to do so. He also wanted to see Chloe.

It was exam time at Griffith College. Jasper hadn’t seen a lot of Chloe around campus in recent weeks. He had wondered if she was going to take some time off of school to grieve for him, but she hadn’t appeared to. Maybe she had gotten some extensions on some of her assignments. In any case, she was studying hard, mostly cooped up indoors while the nights got warmer and warmer in late spring.

Jasper found Chloe leaving the on-campus coffee shop as it was shutting up for the night. He watched her, hidden carefully with Obfuscate, as she headed home. She looked a little better than she had last month, but Jasper could see dark rings under her eyes. He started to follow her home.

Jasper soon became aware of another man following Chloe. Jasper fell back to check him out. He didn’t recognise him or know him from his previous life. The stranger was focused on Chloe with a hungry expression. Chloe had no idea he was there either. Jasper recognised a fellow predator. He didn’t think this man was a vampire, but he was still dangerous, and he was targeting Chloe.

Jasper growled softly, feeling his anger and his Beast rising. He stalked the man as he stalked Chloe, waiting for his chance to strike.

The chance came when Chloe rounded a corner and the stranger started to hurry to catch up. Jasper was on him in an instant, grabbing the man and darting away into the shadows with him. The man yelped and Jasper clamped his cold palm over his mouth. He cracked the stranger’s skull against the side of a building, trying to be careful not to kill him. His victim went limp, but was still breathing. Jasper quickly checked his pockets and found rope and a gun. He growled to himself.

_“He wanted to hurt Chloe! Kill him now!”_

_“No,”_ he told himself. _“Bring him to Talon. THEN, we can feed.”_

Jasper slung the man over his shoulders and quickly disappeared off campus again.

* * *

Down in the sanctum, Jasper didn’t dare try to open the cage, lest he give Talon a chance to carry out her threats against him. Instead, he thrust the still unconscious man’s arm through the bars towards her. She grabbed the offering and bit into his wrist, drinking quickly and greedily. Jasper waited while she killed the stalker, drinking the last drop. She pulled back, sighing in relief as her starving Beast went silent.

She didn’t have long to enjoy it as Jasper lunged at her again, grabbing her wrist. She pulled back against him, snarling and struggling, but he managed to brace her arm against the bars to keep her relatively still.

“Stop struggling,” he warned, “or I’ll break your arm again!”

“Let me go! What are you doing?” she demanded.

Jasper forced Talon’s sleeve up to expose her pale, tattooed skin and sank his fangs deep into her arm. Her blood flowed into him and he swallowed it down. He could taste her outrage and violent energy in each succulent drop. Talon fought at first, screaming, trying to hit him and pull away, but after a moment or two she seemed to stop trying to resist. Jasper drank swallow after swallow of her thick, delicious Vitae. The moment dragged on and a voice inside of Jasper whispered at him to never let her go, to take it all…

With a snarl of effort, Jasper pulled back. He licked the bite wound as he had seen Victor and Nelli do while feeding and released Talon.

Talon stepped back quickly, clutching her arm. She stared at Jasper in renewed horror and rage. “You just fed from me! What the fuck? You did that when you caught me too! _Why_?”

“Because,” Jasper growled, “I… wanted to.”

“You _monster!_  Is THAT why I’m in the cage? So you can just… _feed_ from me whenever you damn well want?”

Jasper didn’t answer that. He just stared her down.

Talon flinched first, backing up to the far corner, her rage simmering. “Monster,” she repeated in a low growl. “ _Freak_! Diablerist motherfucker!”

Jasper wasn’t sure what Talon’s reaction was going to be after being fed upon again. Anger, sure but... for the first time, Jasper thought she was… _afraid_ of him.  

_“Victor and Nelli’s victims don’t scream. They aren’t scared. The people they feed from enjoy it. They get permission first… but that’s never going to be an option for me. I can’t do what they do. I don’t look like how they look.”_

Jasper rumbled in discontent. He remembered the pictures he had seen and reports he had read of Talon ripping men apart. True, some of them had been bad people. Her ex certainly appeared to have been abusive, but most of her victims hadn’t done anything wrong. She was just as monstrous as he was, and he surprised himself with how little guilt he felt for her situation. He hadn’t deliberately tortured her victims as she seemed to have. Sure, in these previous months Jasper had become very violent, but not even he seemed to have the love for disemboweling that Talon did.

_“We’re still just as awful as each other. I’m just more lucky than she is in this case."_

Jasper picked up the dead stalker’s body to dispose of it somewhere, perhaps down in the sewers, or bury it in Griffith Park. He hadn’t decided yet. The stalker’s gun, he discovered, was empty. He decided to dispose of it as well. but kept the rope.

There was one thing his prisoner had said that did bother him a little. It was an unfamiliar word.

As he left his sanctum, Jasper made a mental note to find out what Talon had meant by “diablerist.”

* * *

For the next few nights, Talon didn’t speak to Jasper at all. She sat at the back of the cage, her knees to her chest, her head resting against the concrete. She didn’t move much from that spot except to occasionally get up and pace. She hissed spitefully at Jasper whenever he got too close and refused to answer any of his questions. Her only reply was to flip him off.

Jasper received an invitation from Eva to visit her at the Observatory and he welcomed it gratefully. She always smiled when she saw him, which felt more and more like a rare and precious thing. He doubted that smile would stay if she knew what was in his sanctum though.

“Good evening, Jasper,” she greeted him from the Observatory doorway. 

“Good evening, Eva. How are you?”

“I am very well, thank you. How are you? How’s the Latin?”

“It’s coming along,” Jasper said, smirking, “but don’t ask me to speak any of it out loud yet.”

Eva giggled softly. “I won’t, then. Not yet. Please, come inside. I have the telescope pointed at Jupiter tonight, if you wish to see.” She stepped back and Jasper followed her in.

They spent a long time playing with the telescope and talking about space. It was very refreshing to have a conversation about something other than Kindred politics for once. Before he left though, Jasper remembered to ask Eva about what Talon had called him.

“Eva… I’ve heard other Kindred mention something or someone called a diablerist? Do you know what that is?”

Eva’s eyes widened. “Where did you hear of that?”

“Another Nosferatu,” Jasper lied, hoping she wouldn't be able to tell. “I couldn't get them to say what it was though.”

“Diablerie is what it’s called when a Kindred feeds from another Kindred to the point of killing them. It’s a very dangerous thing to do. For one, it’s against Kindred law and it will get you severely punished if you are caught. Known diablerists are often shunned from Kindred society. Additionally, taking the last drop of Vitae also runs the risk of the victim’s soul possessing their attacker and haunting them forever… or so it’s said.” Eva shrugged. “I, myself, have never diablerized anyone, of course.”

“Ah,” Jasper said softly, taking all this in. He had been right to keep his addiction to vampire blood a secret. He was glad he knew the risks involved now.

“There is one exception when diablorie is allowed,” Eva continued. “In cities where Kindred are ruled by the Ivory Tower, sometemes the Prince will order something called a blood hunt on a vampire whom they want hunted and killed. This may be carried out by any means necessary so long as the Masquerade is upheld. In that instance, diablerie _is_ allowed.” Eva sighed sadly.

“Something wrong?” Jasper asked.

“I used to… be with the Ivory Tower. It was not... “ Eva shook her head gently. “Let’s just say that my life here is much better now, and I would rather die than go back.”

Jasper nodded and wisely decided not to push her on that subject.

“That said… there are a few potential benefits to diablerie,” Eva added.

Jasper’s eyebrows rose. “What are those?”

“If the Kindred entirely drains one who was older and more powerful than they were, they may gain some of their powers. It is one way of potentially learning disciplines that it would be otherwise impossible for them to learn. There are also those who may become addicted to Kindred Vitae.”

Jasper nodded and looked down. He had a feeling that he was headed down this path, but… if he was careful, he might still be able to abide in his new preferred method of feeding without risking the negative side effects.

“Have you ever tasted Kindred blood?” he asked her.

“I have yes… a very long time ago, as part of a ritual.”

“...What did you think of it?” Jasper asked with hesitation. He wanted to know he wasn’t alone in his opinions of Vitae.

“It was better than any other blood I have ever tasted,” Eva admitted, “and I can see why it is so addictive.”

Jasper nodded to himself, all this information churning around in his mind. “Is it… possible to learn other disciplines without killing the other Kindred?”

“It is, yes,” Eva nodded slowly. “If one allows it, and the feeding is done with that intent, but… any time one Kindred consumes the Vitae of another it is a big deal, and should not be taken lightly. The blood is our everything. To be taught a discipline in this way would incur a major debt.”

“Hmm…” Jasper growled gently to himself, thinking further. He thought he ought to feel guilty about what he was doing to Talon, but he just didn’t. Talon deserved to be locked up, and she was currently Jasper’s only hope of regular feeding. 

“Thank you for answering my questions,” he said to Eva.

“That’s quite alright.”

“I should get going but… this was nice.” He gave her a little smile.

“It was indeed. Have a good evening.”

“You too,” he said as he headed out. Jasper walked back down to his sanctum, deep in thought all the while.

* * *

Talon ignored him as he came in. He could smell Vitae in the musty air as he neared the cage. He tilted his head and looked at her, trying to see if she was injured. She didn’t appear to be, but she had red stains on her cheeks and hands from wiping tears away. She growled at him when he got too close.

Jasper sighed. “Talon…”

She bared her fangs, bristling like a rabid animal, daring him to attempt a move against her again.

He tried to think of what he could say to her, but he couldn't come up with anything. He could tell her that he wasn’t going to kill her, but that was very definitely going to be a lie. He didn’t want to diablerize her, now that he knew what it was. He also couldn't just let her go. Abrams would have his head. One way or another, she was going to perish down here.

Jasper just shook his head at the furious Gangrel, and left her alone, for now.


	8. June

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nelli G throws a party. Jasper and his coterie get to know each other just a tiny bit better.

It was summer. This had never been Jasper’s favourite time of year. He used to get bad sunburns as a child and he didn’t like the heat. Now, the hot desert night air only served to remind him how cold and dead his body felt.

School was out. Chloe was gone. Jasper wasn’t sure when she left, but her room on campus was empty and had been for a few weeks. He hoped she was just away for summer break and would return in the fall. He hoped she was happy, wherever she was.

He was miserable, but he thought he covered it fairly well. Most of the time, he aimed to project just a steady level of grumpiness and discontent. Neither Victor nor Nelli questioned it. He didn’t even know if they noticed. He assumed that if they did notice, they might not have cared.

Jasper settled into a kind of routine of reading, hunting one or two nights a week to feed Talon, and feeding himself. Talon continued to hate him, barely speaking to him. She resisted and fought back every time we went to bite her. Jasper was starting to think that keeping her around wouldn’t be worth it for much longer. 

The one good thing about summer was the city seemed to swell with people, in particular the assholes Jasper liked to hunt. He did have to be a little bit careful though. He had no way to stop Talon from killing when she fed, and short of concussing everyone and hoping for the best, no way to modify the memory of any survivors. He had to be a little bit picky and not always hunt at the College. Too many missing people there would draw attention, and attention was the last thing Jasper wanted.

Jasper also started to try to map out the labyrinth. The cool, dark tunnels seemed to almost call to him like a siren’s song. He took this exploration very slowly and carefully, going for as much detail as he could. He was aware that some features of the maze could change with little warning, but there did seem to be a pattern to it that Jasper was starting to key into. Whoever had designed the labyrinth was clearly a genius and Jasper wished he could find out more about them. Jasper knew that he had to keep himself and his mind busy, and this labyrinth was going to do that for him for years, possibly decades to come. It was both a curse and a blessing to him. Down there in the cool darkness, he could keep the voice of the Beast in his head quiet and distracted for a little while, like giving a rowdy child a puzzle to solve during a long car ride. It also distracted him from his heartache and worrying about Chloe while she was gone.

Jasper was resting in the labyrinth, sketching in his journal a drawing of a staircase that he thought might lead to a secret door, when his phone buzzed with a call from Victor. Jasper sighed and answered it.

“Hello?”

The connection wasn’t great due to the layers of earth and concrete above him.

“Jasper? How are you doing?”

“I’m fine. How are you?”

“I’m good, I’m good! I can barely hear you though. You sound like you’re underground!”

“That’s because I am. What do you need, Victor?”

“Can you come to a coterie meeting in an hour?”

Jasper rolled his eyes. He wasn’t sure when Victor had decided that the two of them and Nelli were officially a coterie. Maybe it was when they started sharing Griffith Campus with him. At this point in time, he only tolerated the two of them because they led to him being able to see Chloe.

Or they _had_ anyway. If she didn’t come back in the fall, he might not have reason to go back to the College again.

“Sure, I guess,” Jasper answered Victor. “What’s it about?”

“Planning Nelli’s big birthday bash.”

Jasper rolled his eyes again and snarled. “Victor, does Nelli know she’s dead?”

Victor laughed over the line. “That’s not going to stop her. Any reason for a party! See you in an hour?”

Jasper glanced at his half-finished staircase sketch and glared at the actual staircase itself, daring it to move. It didn’t.

“Sure, fine, Victor,” he sighed.

“Cool, see you soon!” 

Jasper hung up and growled.

And here he thought he was done with the tediousness of having a social life when he became a Nosferatu. Apparently not.

* * *

Nelli G’s big birthday bash was to be hosted at Club Maharajah. Anyone who was anyone, Kindred or mortal, was invited. They wanted Jasper to be security again, though Victor insisted that as their friend, he was welcome to enjoy himself too.

“Mmm… I think I’ll be good just hiding in the shadows and looking for bombs, thanks,” Jasper growled.

“Whatever suits you, man,” Victor said, smiling.

“There had _better_ not be any bombs at my birthday,” Nelli muttered.

“Why are you even _having_ a birthday, anyway?” Jasper asked. “How long have you been dead?”

“That’s not the _point_ , Jasper, and it’s rude to ask a lady her age,” she said, giving back as much venom as she was receiving.

“If you’re expecting a birthday gift from me, you’ll be disappointed,” he growled.

“Well, then I’ll just have to make do with the gift of your _charming_ presence,” Nelli snipped.

Jasper’s lip curled in a sneer.

“ _In any case_ ,” Victor said, trying to get them to stop arguing. “Jasper, we’re going to ask you to hang around and support my security team, then if you want to get a drink with us after, you are more than welcome to.”

“I’ll help out on the night, but I might just go home after,” Jasper consented.

“Sure, that’s fine. Where… sorry, do you mind me asking? You never seem to sleep at the haven we have here on campus. Where do you sleep?”

Jasper leveled his gaze on Victor and slowly arched an eyebrow. Surely he knew letting someone know where you spent the day was a huge security risk. “I _do_ mind, actually. I have a sanctum somewhere in Hollywood. That’s all you need to know.”

Victor raised his hands. “Okay, fair enough. No need to get defensive. Have you been alright lately? You’ve seemed a little… down.”

Jasper blinked at Victor, mildly surprised. He had noticed the Nosferatu’s misery after all. “I’m… fine. I…” He hesitated, not wanting to open up to Victor and Nelli too much but still feeling an urge to tell them something. They were smart enough to not buy a lackluster ‘I’m fine’ forever. “I haven’t been… Kindred for very long and I’m still kind of… adjusting.”

Victor frowned. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realise… how long have you been…?”

“About eight months, give or take,” Jasper answered.

Both Victor and Nelli looked surprised. “Is that all?” Nelli said.

“Yeah,” Jasper replied, looking at her.

“Oh…” Nelli glanced at Victor and Jasper thought he saw something a little sad in her expression, but it went away quickly. Jasper tried to interpret it. 

_Did they think I had been doing this longer? Did they not realise I was so ‘young’?_

“Um… so we’ll see you at the club for the party?” Victor asked, a little awkward but trying to move the conversation away from that depressing topic and back to the task at hand. “Your help will be super valuable, seriously.”

Jasper sighed. He would have rather spent the time in the labyrinth and felt the need to ask for some kind of compensation to have to go to a party he otherwise would have avoided. “Alright, but I don’t want to do it for free.”

Nelli rolled her eyes and Victor frowned. “Sure… what do you want?” he asked.

“I don’t know yet, but I’ll let you know.” Jasper stood to leave.

“May I make a tiny request?” Nelli spoke up.

Jasper paused. “Yeah?”

“Could you please wear _clean clothes_ for the party?”

Jasper smiled slowly, showing Nelli his fangs. “Sure, but only because it’s your birthday.”

* * *

Jasper’s clothes were indeed clean the night of the party, not that anyone noticed them. He briefly checked in with Victor and Nelli, who were both dressed to the nines in new clothing Nelli had made herself, and then hid himself away with Unseen Passage. He checked the Maharajah from roof to basement three times before the club opened, searching for bombs, other obfuscated Kindred, or anything else unwanted. Everything came up clean and the party began.

The Maharajah was soon jumping with people, Kindred and otherwise. Jasper recognised several faces, others he knew only by reputation and some he assumed were important but were complete unknowns to him. Nelli’s favourite DJ had been hired and they played all her favourite tunes. Victor live streamed most of it, shouting excitedly to his phone and the people watching online about what a beautiful night this was for the beautiful Nelli G. 

Jasper overheard some party-goers talking about how Nelli had asked her guests to donate to charities instead of giving her presents, which surprised him somewhat. He had assumed that Nelli was vain and selfish to the core. He remembered that she had also been human once, likely with loved ones who may not even know she was a vampire now, for all her public presence in the fashion scene. The irony that he had judged her as much as she had judged him upon first meeting was not lost on him. 

Jasper watched Nelli from the shadows as she activated Awe and moved to the dance floor. The humans around her were a hundred percent enchanted. She could have any one of them and they would not only go with her willingly, but would have been overjoyed to do so. Despite what he had just learned about Nelli’s charity, Jasper found himself hating her a little for this. She and others like her just seemed to have it _so easy_ when it came to feeding. No one ever fought back, or tried to kill her while she fed. He wondered if she had ever been to the point of frenzied starvation, short of the night of her Embrace.

Jasper became aware of someone else watching Nelli from the side of the dance floor. True, with her using Presence, she was commanding the room and almost everyone was looking at her, but there was something about this man in particular that seemed _off_ to Jasper. He wasn’t Kindred. He was breathing hard, almost panting. Jasper wondered if he was having some kind of medical issue and snuck closer to assess him. This guy was pretty big and tall. He was watching Nelli hungrily. Jasper had seen this expression and felt this vibe in people before. This man was bad news. This wasn’t a medical episode, this was something far more creepy. Jasper decided to keep an eye on him.

Eventually, Nelli left the dance floor and headed up to the VIP area, selecting a handful of lucky mortals to come with her. Jasper knew those people were going to be fed from in her private booth. It was going to be the best night of their life. He growled quietly.

The man Jasper was tracking tried to follow Nelli and her entourage up to the VIP area. He was stopped by security and Nelli finally noticed him. Jasper was close enough to hear the exchange.

“Nelli! Nelli!” the man called. “Nelli! Remember me? Happy Birthday!”

Nelli eyed the man. It took a second or two for the recognition to hit. When it did, she was not pleased to see him. “Oh, yes, I remember you.”

The man’s face lit up with joy, oblivious to her tone. “You do?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Can-can I come up with you?” he stuttered.

“No.”

The man’s face fell in deep disappointment. “Why not?”

“Because I’ve asked you many times, _too many_ , to leave me alone.” Nelli glanced at the guards, who took her hint and started to escort the man away. He protested this, shouting and crying all the way to the club door. Nelli turned and led the people she had chosen up the stairs, explaining to them along the way how that man had been stalking her for months and she was sick of him.

Jasper slunk off and climbed up to the roof. He could see the stalker walking morosely away from the club. That looked to be the end of it. Jasper took a few minutes to enjoy the relative peace he found up on the roof, away from the party, before climbing back down and inside.

* * *

The rest of the big birthday bash went without a hitch. All of the guests had a fantastic time, Victor seemed satisfied and Nelli was happy. They, along with Ib and Victor’s guards, were the last ones to leave, allowing the clean up team to start their work. Jasper followed, still hidden from mortal senses, as the coterie made their way to Victor’s monstrous SUV that would take them back to Griffith College. 

None of them, save for Jasper, noticed Nelli’s stalker from the club returning. He was moving quickly and quietly behind them, his hands in his pockets. Jasper saw tears on the man’s face anguished face.

“Nelli!” he screamed. “If I can’t have you, no one will!”

A lot of things happened at once after that. 

The man pulled a gun from his pocket and pointed it at Nelli G and Victor Temple.

Jasper was closest to him. He didn’t think, just acted. He pounced, his Obfuscate falling away when he made contact. Jasper tackled the man hard to the ground and the gun went off.

_BANG! BANG! BANG!_

The rest of Victor’s security team drew their weapons and advanced. Ib hung back, putting herself between Victor and the threat. Victor ushered Nelli behind him to protect her. 

Jasper snarled in pain as he held the man down, choking him out into unconsciousness. The scent of gunpowder and Vitae was thick around him. The security team swarmed in and Jasper let them have the man. He had passed out. The gun was quickly secured. 

Jasper stepped back, growling, his teeth gritted. He looked down at himself and found three new holes in his torso; two in his chest and one just under his ribs. He hadn’t known before now what happened when a vampire got shot. Now he did. It _hurt_. He could feel the internal damage. This would have been lethal had he been alive. Now though, despite the pain, it didn’t feel as bad as it should have done.

“Jasper, you okay?” Victor asked.

“Yeah… I’m fine,” he growled, his voice tense.

“Jesus Christ… you just came out of nowhere and got him!”

“Yeah, well…” Jasper shrugged. “Security.”

“Is he secure?” Victor asked his mortal team.

“Yes, sir! He’s unconscious. Should we call an ambulance?”

“What?” Nelli said, outraged.

“No!” Victor said at the same time.

“What do you want us to do with him?” 

Jasper spoke up. “Let me have him.”

Everyone looked at him. The mortals, save for Ib, looked nervous. Jasper hated the sudden attention.

“Yeah,” Victor agreed, nodding. “Sure. Take him.”

“Yes, take him, Jasper, please,” Nelli insisted, sounding angry and flustered. This was not how she had planned for the end of her night to go. “I never want to see him again.”

“You won’t,” Jasper told her. 

“You sure you’re alright? You sound in pain,” Nelli said.

“Don’t worry about me,” Jasper insisted, shaking his head.

Nelli frowned, glancing at the holes in his chest, but let it go.

Victor gestured to the guards holding the man’s unconscious body. “Hand him over,” he ordered.

The guards passed him to Jasper, who shouldered the dead weight. It had taken three men to lift him, but Jasper managed fine on his own, though he growled still in pain from the gunshots. The guards quickly backed away from Jasper, intimidated at the display.

“I think we’re done here,” Jasper told Victor and Nelli. “I’ll count this as my favour.” He jerked his head towards the body on his shoulder.

“Sure, Jasper,” Victor agreed. “Once again, you’ve gone above and beyond.”

“Sure,” Jasper growled. “See you later.” Without another word, he turned to leave with his prize. Victor called out a good bye to him as he left and Jasper gave him a little wave. As he disappeared into the sewers, Jasper heard Victor start to wipe his security guards’ memories of having seen the Nosferatu.

* * *

Talon was starving. It had been many nights since Jasper had last fed her. She didn’t know where he spent his time or what he was doing, but she was angry and her beast was roaring. She paced back and forth, growling. She had done away with the biker jacket and torn at her clothing with her nails. Her eyes were instantly fixed on Jasper as he came in with this human victim, unblinking and intense. Jasper paused as some minuscule instinct deep in the back of his mind reminded him that he was in the presence of a predator and he had to be careful.

 _“You are a predator too,”_ his Beast reminded him, _“and she is our prey, not the other way around. She is not our friend. She is our enemy, as all Kindred are. They are not our friends. They are our food.”_

Jasper licked his fangs in anticipation. “Talon, I know you’re hungry.”

She hissed at him, baring her teeth.

“This is for you,” Jasper said, indicating the unconscious man, “but only if I get to feed from you after. If you don’t put up a fight, then we can just get this done and I’ll leave you alone again. If you _do_ fight me, you don’t get to eat again for the rest of the month. Understand?”

Jasper wasn’t sure if his words were reaching her. She seemed more beast than not at this point. He wondered if this was a Gangrel thing, or just something that happened to any Kindred who went too long without feeding. Perhaps a bit of both.

Talon stopped pacing, her eyes still staring at him and the human he carried. 

“Understand?” Jasper repeated with a loud snarl.

Talon nodded. Her voice was just as harsh as his. “Yes.”

Jasper approached and pushed the human to the bars. Talon lunged forward and tore into him with her fangs. He bled out quickly and she drank every drop in a series of long, loud, messy gulps. She stepped back quickly when she was finished and Jasper pulled the corpse away. He deposited it in a corner for later. First, he needed to feed and heal himself.

“Okay, come here,” he growled to her.

Talon wiped her chin and shook her head, her back pressed against the wall and out of his reach. Now that she had fed, she seemed more cognisant. “No.”

“I told you what would happen if you put up a fight,” Jasper warned. 

Talon growled at him in challenge and defiance.

Jasper’s Beast roiled with anger and impatience inside him. He was going to feed whether Talon consented to it or not. His Beast answered her challenge. He bared his fangs, his back arching like a cat. His fingers found the handle of his knife. With stiff, jerky movements, Jasper unlocked the cage and stormed inside.

Talon had been waiting for that.

She struck at him, aiming high, then juking low and nailing Jasper with a powerful blow to his lower abdomen. His gunshot wounds, still raw and aching, burned with sudden renewed pain. He sliced at her and she dodged, slipping around him and out through the open cell door. Jasper roared in anger and immediately gave chase.

Talon did not know the layout of the sanctum and she wasn’t thinking clearly. She very quickly trapped herself in a dead-end room. As she started to turn around, Jasper slammed into her, pushing her face-down to the concrete floor. His knife sunk deeply into her side. Talon thrashed and snarled. Her nails grew into deadly claws that scratched lines in the concrete. She wriggled, screaming, trying to turn to slice into Jasper’s stomach. Jasper was taller and stronger than her and fought to hold her down with all his undead strength.

The back and side of Talon’s neck was exposed and Jasper’s fangs found her skin there. He bit deep and hard, his fangs grazing her jugular. Thick, dark Vitae welled up and Jasper started to drink.

Talon elbowed him sharply in the shoulder, forcing his mouth to rip away. She tried to follow up by twisting and slicing into him, but Jasper wrapped his long fingers around her head and slammed it firmly into the ground. Stunned, Talon offered no more resistance as he twisted her arms behind her back. Jasper lowered his face to her neck wound once again and continued to drink. He could feel and hear Talon growling weakly.

He was tempted, very badly tempted, to kill her, to drink her dry, to taste every drop of her feral Vitae…

… but he didn’t.

Not this time.

Not yet.

Jasper ran his tongue over her neck wound and the flesh closed. He pulled his knife out of her side and licked it clean. Next, he stood and dragged Talon back to the cage, scruffing her like a disobedient dog. He threw her into the cage, not bothering with being gentle. She crawled over to the far side and curled up against the wall, as far away from him as she could get. Jasper slammed the door shut. Talon found her discarded leather jacket and pulled it over herself like a blanket. She glared at him in wordless anger as he locked the cell again.

“I hope that was worth it,” he rumbled at her. “Because you’re getting _nothing_ now for the next two weeks.”

Talon flipped him off. Jasper found himself echoing the gesture.

Jasper snarled, gritting his teeth as he forced his bullet wounds to close. His Beast complied happily, as if it was rewarding him for the blood and violence. His dead flesh knitted, his organs healing. Instantly, he felt better. He let out a long sigh in mild relief.

Jasper collected the dead human’s body and carried it out and into the sewers. He dismembered it quickly and efficiently. He let the rats have some of it and carried the rest outside. Griffith Park had many deep gorges where one could dump a dead body and not worry about it being found. The rest would soon be eaten by coyotes and other animals.

The last thing Jasper did before he went to bed that night was find his sewing kit. He had yet another hoodie to mend.


	9. July

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper gives in to his Bestial urges and the results are not pretty.

Two weeks is a long time when you are starving. Even with careful and limited usage of his disciplines, by the time the unbearable Los Angeles summer heat of July rolled around, Jasper was nearing the end of his rope. His Beast was impatient and argumentative. He could only imagine how Talon was feeling. She didn’t speak to him much, but he could feel her anger and hatred nonetheless.

Jasper was glad he had his labyrinth to distract both himself and his Beast. He wasn't sure when he had begun to think of it as HIS labyrinth, but the more time he spent down there, the more possessive of it he became. He continued his meticulous and detailed mapping, making endless notes in his journal. 

He also kept up his self-taught Latin lessons as best he could. There were still massive chunks of the ancient labyrinth book that he couldn't read. That was alright though. Jasper rationalised to himself that he had time enough to get it eventually. 

Rather disturbingly, he had yet to re-discover the corpse of the Nosferatu he had attacked down there during the winter months when he had first stumbled across this place. Jasper wasn’t sure if he wanted to find him or not, but he had to admit he was curious about what would happen if he did. If he was lucky, all he might find was a pile of bones. If he was unlucky, he would find an angry and likely starving Nosferatu and the tables would be turned. Concern over this was not enough to stop Jasper from going down into the labyrinth most nights during the California summer. The main thing that pulled him away from the labyrinth was an occasional coterie meeting.

Victor liked him to check in at least once a week. Jasper tolerated this only because he still wanted access to the Griffith College campus just in case Chloe returned in the fall. Sometimes, a text message or two was all that was needed, but other times, a face-to-face meeting was called for.

* * *

Jasper slouched deeply in his chair in the meeting room on campus. This was one of those supposedly important face-to-face meetings. The college below them was quiet. All the students and most of the staff were away, presumably enjoying themselves. It was the middle of summer. It was hot in the room, even with the air conditioning on. Jasper found himself mildly reflecting that he didn’t mind the heat now as much as he did while he was alive. It sank a little into his cold, dead skin and felt oddly good. It wasn’t enough to warm him down to his bones though.

Nelli was going on about her recent plans to Victor, who was also going on about his recent plans. Fashion and hip-hop music. There was a new line Nelli was developing and a new album Victor was producing coming out soon. Jasper had interest in neither.

Finally, after going on about this ‘hot new artist’ for about ten minutes longer than was necessary, Victor turned to the very bored Nosferatu sitting across from him.

“What about you, man? What’s new with you?”

“Nothing,” Jasper droned flatly.

“Nothing? Nothing going on?” Victor sounded like he didn’t believe it.

It wasn’t strictly true of course, but Jasper had decided very early on that they didn’t need to know about the labyrinth, and they certainly didn’t need to know about Talon or his internal debate about what he was going to do with her. Jasper shrugged. “I’m trying to learn Latin. Otherwise… no. Nothing.”

Both Victor and Nelli raised their eyebrows in interest. “Latin? Really?” Nelli asked.

“Yeah,” Jasper said, daring her to ask why.

She did. “Any particular reason?”

He shrugged again. “It’s interesting… and I have nothing but time now.” He grinned harshly. “Might as well learn a new language.”

“Yeah, but a dead language?” Victor chuckled. “I mean, who speaks Latin anymore, right? Even among our kind?” He looked to Nelli for confirmation and she chuckled, more or less agreeing with him.

Jasper kept quiet and let them laugh, picking some dirt from under his broken nails.

“But hey, you do you, I guess,” Victor said. “Whatever keeps you busy, right?”

“Right,” Jasper said with a disinterested snarl.

“Anything else?” Victor pressed.

“No. Should there be?”

“I don’t know,” Victor chuckled again. This one felt a little forced. “You Nosferatu are so… secretive. Don’t you have some kind of like, secret network or something?”

Jasper growled and arched an eyebrow. “If we’re so secretive, what makes you think I’ll tell you about our so-called ‘network?’”

“You do have a good point.”

“It’s an urban myth anyway,” Jasper muttered.

Victor looked disappointed. “Really?”

Jasper grinned. Victor caught on and grinned back, sharing in on the little conspiracy joke.

“Will we see you at the new record drop at The Maharajah on the weekend?” Victor asked, pointing at Jasper.

“No,” he said.

“But will you _be_ there?” Victor clarified, not losing his point or his smile.

“Do you want me there? Are you expecting any more crazy stalkers?”

“Hey, you never know. You never know. You’ve been a great help to us so far in that area, so yeah… we want you there.”

Jasper glanced from Victor to Nelli. There was nothing on Nelli’s face that told him she wanted him there, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. He looked back at Victor.

“Fine, Victor. I’ll be there.”

“Good man! See you Saturday night, maybe.” He gave Jasper a wink.

Jasper did not return the wink. 

* * *

 The next night, Jasper took some time for himself down in the deep darkness of his labyrinth. He had just rounded a bend and discovered a spiraling metal staircase that led downwards. Intrigued and excited, he made a note about it in his journal. He didn’t know where the staircase led to yet, but he was jotting it down in any case, noting its location on the rough map he had for this area to be transcribed later. 

Before he had a chance to descend the stairs to discover what was at the bottom, Jasper felt something suddenly and sharply _tug_ at his insides. He stopped, his pen poised above paper, and frowned deeply.

_That was strange…_

He felt the _tug_ again, as sharp and instant as before. It felt like someone had a leash around his chest and was yanking on it. He growled.

_What the fuck?_

Jasper glanced around. He was, as always, alone in the maze. The reverse angles and dark stone walls seemed to be trying to give off an innocent vibe. Nothing to do with the magic of the labyrinth. Not this time.

_Tug! Tug! Come back! Come here!_

Jasper growled again. Something in his blood was pulling him away, pulling him towards...

_Talon?_

Yes… she was calling to him, somehow. Jasper could feel it in his blood, feel _her_ in his blood. She was still in the cage in his sanctum, but she wanted him to come to her.

_Wait… how did I know she was still in her cage?_

_I can feel her there… I know exactly where she is…_

_...and she’s really, really mad and really wants me to come to her._

_TUG! TUG!_

_Shit, shit, shit! Fuck!_

Angry, Jasper shoved his pen and journal into his bag and rushed back through the labyrinth towards home. A bizarre internal argument started up in his head as he moved through the dark passageways.

_This is not good. I can’t have her ordering me around like this. If she can summon me, she could potentially make me do all kinds of things..._

_I have to kill her. I should have killed her weeks ago._

_But… can I kill her? She’s my- NO! DO NOT EVEN THINK THE WORD ‘MASTER!’_

_But I just did._

**_SHIT!_ **

_“We could kill her though…”_ hissed a very familiar voice inside of him. Once again, he found himself tempted by the Beast. _“Give in and finally finish her off. It’s been weeks since we’ve had anything decent. You are right… you should have done away with her weeks ago. Give her to me and you won’t have to worry about her ever again.The hunger will go away. She will make you strong. Give her to me, give her to me, give her to me…”_

 _“I might have to,”_ Jasper growled to himself. _“But no promises.”_

_“We shall see…”_

He didn’t know if the Beast had a face, per-se, but he thought that if it did, it would be grinning in anticipation.

Jasper hurried on, still feeling the _tug, tug, tug_ on his blood.

* * *

Jasper climbed up through the trap door in his sanctum and slammed it closed behind him. He stormed over to Talon’s cage. She was smiling when she saw him, her fangs on full display. He had never seen her smile like that before.

“Oh my God! It worked!” Talon said with surprise and joy. Her voice was rough with hunger. “Butcher told me about Blood Bonds a long time ago, but I didn’t think it would actually work!” She burst out laughing, all but dancing in the cage. “I was just trying it on a whim because I was bored as fuck! This is fantastic!”

Jasper did not like this. Talon was happy. She shouldn't be happy. He could feel her Vitae. It was even stronger now that he was in the same room with her. He could sense Talon’s desire for violence, blood and, above all else, _freedom_. He had a sudden mental image of Talon on a motorcycle, racing down a highway, free and eager to rip someone apart. 

Jasper shook his head, trying to clear the invading thought out of his mind. “What did you do?” he growled. “What the fuck is a ‘Blood Bond’?”

“HA! You don’t know? Oh my God!” She rounded on him. “I summoned you, _cabrón!_ Oh, you’re _my_ bitch now! You’ve had too much of my blood!” Talon cackled with insane glee. She flexed her fists and slammed them against the iron bars in triumph. Her smile turned smug.

“What?” Jasper asked, still confused. He clenched his fists too, trying to hold back his anger.

 _“Strike her! Kill her!”_ his Beast urged. _“Let me go!”_

_“Not. Yet.”_

“It’s a Blood Bond, you Nosferatu _freak_!” Talon shouted. “You fucking idiot! You have to do what I say now! When you drink too much of another vampire’s blood, you become their slave! I’m your master now and you are my thrall! Now let me out of here and find me someone _good_ to eat before I rip you apart!” She roared.

Jasper’s blood surged to obey the command. Without thinking, he moved to unlock her cage.

_No! NO! STOP!_

He stopped himself at the last second, his hand on the key in the lock, growling viciously. He glared at Talon with hatred. “No!”

“Do it, _cabrrrrrón,_ ” Talon jeered, rolling the ‘R' and twisting her hips at him. “You gotta. It’s my command. Let. Me. Out. Now.”

Jasper’s hand shook. He wanted to do what she said. He had to! He tried to resist but it was surprisingly difficult. He had to do what she wanted. He had to make her happy. His blood was pulling at him…

He unlocked the cage.

Talon pushed past him, laughing and victoriously flipping him off with both hands. She moved a few steps away, towards the front exit.

Jasper could feel his Beast starting to rise. He was angry at this… well, it couldn’t be called a ‘betrayal,’ not really. Even still, it was not good. He had made a very serious mistake. Things had gotten out of his control. He could _not_ let this Blood Bond stand. He could _not_ let her go. He had to do something!

 _“Then let ME go instead,”_ the Beast shouted inside him. It clawed at his throat. He could feel it in his chest. All his muscles were tense, coiled, ready. His fangs itched for blood. He hadn’t fed in a fortnight. _“Let ME stop her! Let ME finish her! You are not strong enough to resist! FEED! ATTACK! KILL!”_

In the heat of the moment, Jasper could see no other way. Let his mental defenses relax. _“Fine. Let’s go.”_   The leash dropped. The internal cage door opened.

A roar erupted from Jasper’s throat as his Beast took over. Jasper pounced. Talon had been ready for him. She caught him and they grappled, pushing and pulling against each other, banging against walls and the bars of the cage. He was stronger but she was tougher. Talon tripped him up and they fell hard to the stone ground. Bone crunched. Skin scraped. Talon aimed a punch square for Jasper’s hideous face, not holding back, and broke his nose. Jasper snarled in pain and rage. His vision flashed red. He lunged fangs first at Talon’s face.

* * *

The next night, when Jasper was cleaning up the spilled and splattered Vitae from the stone floor, walls and ceiling of the cage room, he tried to piece together his memories of what had happened. Everything after that initial attack was in a red haze of hunger, pain and wrath. He had enough small, momentary glimpses of clarity to work out the rough sequence of events, but there were still plenty of gaps he didn’t think he would ever get back.

He had let his Beast go, willingly giving in to the fury and the hunger.

He had attacked her. They fought and fell to the ground.

Talon had broken his nose.

Jasper bit her face.

She had slugged him again, knocking him off her.

He remembered feeling her weight on his chest. She was on top of him, clawing and screaming. He was doing the same, trying to get the upper hand. Both of them were out of control, Frenzied, with no ounce of restraint. 

Jasper found his knife while he was cleaning. It had somehow gotten knocked into a corner. It was ruined, the blade badly knicked and bent. He didn’t remember drawing it or stabbing Talon with it, but he figured he must have done. He resolved to throw it into one of the bottomless pits of stinking, stagnant water he had found in the labyrinth. This was the same knife his first ever victim after his embrace had attacked him with. He held no sentimentality for the weapon whatsoever. He would need a new knife though. A better one. He made a mental note to inquire to Abrams about it.

Jasper tried to let his mind go blank as he scrubbed the blood out of the stone with a hard-bristled brush. A bucket of water and detergent was nearby for rinsing. He had to get all of the stains out. He didn’t want to be smelling them later. The scraping sound of the brush against the concrete and stone filled the room like white noise.

_Schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh..._

Talon had bitten him at some point in the fight. Jasper remembered feeling her fangs in his arm, ripping through the fabric of his sleeve and biting down to the bone. She had been aiming for his throat and he had blocked it. Lucky. Maybe that’s when he had stabbed her. The bite stung now, though it wasn’t bleeding any more.

_Schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh..._

It was easy for Jasper to let his mind to go blank. His Beast was silent, full, and happy. For the first time in a long time, Jasper was well-fed. 

_Schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh..._

His fangs had eventually found Talon’s throat again. He didn’t know how, but there must have been an opportunity and he had taken it. He remembered drinking, almost chugging her blood down. The Gangrel’s Vitae was hot with Frenzied fight-or-die rage. Talon clawed the shit out of his chest and belly as he killed her, fighting like an animal right up until the very end. He had sustained some very heavy damage from that. Another shirt and hoodie were ruined, this time beyond repair.

_Schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh.._

Jasper’s flesh still wasn’t fully healed as he scrubbed the room now, after the fight. Most of the blood Jasper was currently cleaning up was his own. He poured water on the stains to rinse them and mopped it up, wishing he had a drain in the floor. That would make this easier. Even without it, he was making slow, painful progress.

_Schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh..._

He had ripped into her throat, drowning himself in her Vitae… and then… everything had gone silent and still.

That was when Jasper came back to his senses. He was in terrible pain. Talon had promised to disembowel him once and this time, she had very nearly succeeded. Vitae was absolutely everywhere. Jasper’s face and body were covered with it. He could still taste it in his mouth. It was caked under his nails. It dripped down the walls and pooled on the floor.

Talon was dead, and not the kind of dead she could come back from. Her body was starting to decay into greasy dust and bone. Her leather motorcycle jacket was torn to bits. Jasper was kneeling next to her remains in mild shock. 

_Schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh…_

The water in Jasper’s bucket was scarlet. He was going to have to change it. He rose and picked up the bucket to dump into the sewers. He re-filled it from a tap attached to the gas station across the street and lugged it back down underground. He added the detergent he had stolen from the same gas station to help dissolve the blood and took up the brush again.

_Schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh…_

As he scrubbed, he remembered when he realised that his Beast was silent. It was… nice, almost blissful. A shadow was gone from his mind. His Beast hadn’t been this calm in months... not since the last time he had drained a human to death.

_Oh no… did I…?_

_Diablerist motherfucker!_

Jasper flinched at that thought, scared. Eva told him months ago that drinking another Kindred’s Vitae until they died could mean that their soul could possess you. He wasn’t sure, but it seemed like those words in his mind might have been in Talon’s voice, but could he really hear it, or had that been only a memory?

He waited, anxious, still on his knees in the bloody cage room. He was hyper aware of his every thought and other sensory input, waiting for another thought that was not his own or his Beast’s. The room was eerily quiet after the chaos of the fight and the many weeks of Talon’s imprisonment.

 _“Are you there?”_ he asked himself. _“Are you inside of me?”_

Nothing. Jasper looked at his blood stained hands and focused, trying to grow deadly claws like Talon had.

Again, nothing.

A long, shaky sigh rattled through Jasper’s torn-up chest as he kneeled in that pool of Vitae. He was relieved, but also oddly disappointed.

_Schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh-schh..._

It took Jasper almost two nights of non-stop cleaning to remove every bloodstain in the cage room. He did his best to ventilate his sanctum to get the stone to dry, but it still took a night or two. The heat from the summer sun simply could not permeate too deeply down into his haven.

* * *

Jasper’s Beast remained quiet and peaceful for almost a week. He felt no sign of Talon’s mind in his own and no further pull at his blood. He decided that these were both good things.

He went to the record drop at Club Maharajah. No one attacked them directly or indirectly and the night was a success. If Victor or Nelli noticed anything wrong with Jasper or different about him, they didn’t mention it. He hid his still healing wounds under a hoodie that was full of patches and was nearing the end of its life. Nelli scowled at him when she saw it at the end of the night. Jasper ignored her.

He plunged into a Salvation Army donation bin on the way home from the club for a new shirt to replace the one Talon had ruined. He caught a lucky break and ended up with something he could use that mostly fit. He resolved to spend some time when the summer ended making the circuit of the Goodwill and Salvation Army stores. His wardrobe was getting lean and he needed to re-stock.

Jasper ended up disposing of Talon’s remains in one of the deep gorges of Griffith Park. Now, finally, she was free.

When his Beast woke up again towards the end of the month, Jasper was left with a dangerous and gnawing problem.

_“What am I going to do for food now that my ‘pantry’ is empty?”_


	10. August

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper meets some new faces.

‘Come to my office tonight. 11:00. I have a new person of interest for you to look after.'

Jasper wasn’t always glad to hear from Abrams, but this was a very welcome text to wake up to. It had been a while now since Talon had died, and though Jasper wasn’t desperate, _not yet_ , he was still keen to make sure he had options available before things got bad. He sent a simple, one-word reply of confirmation and didn’t delay in making his way to downtown Hollywood and the Baron’s office. 

Abrams was waiting for him, seated in his plush chair behind his expensive antique desk. There were several ghoul guards in the red and brass accented office. These were large, burly, well-trained men who no one in their right mind would want to mess with. Seated in a chair, surrounded by said guards, was a young female Kindred. Jasper guessed her to have been a little younger than him when she was Embraced. She had red hair and pale skin. For a few seconds, Jasper was struck with how similar she looked at first glance to Chloe. She was wearing blue jeans and a sweatshirt with a maple leaf printed on it. She had her head bowed and her wrists bound behind her back with zip ties.

“Good evening, Jasper,” Baron Abrams said when he came in.

Jasper nodded to the Baron. “Good evening.”

Abrams gestured to another chair. “Please, sit.”

Jasper did so. The bound girl glanced up at him and started, eyes widening. Though she was Kindred, there was still a startled intake of air in through her nose. She looked back down again hurriedly, biting her lip. Jasper’s eyes narrowed and a small growl rippled in his throat. She was afraid of him.

“As I stated in my message,” Abrams explained, “I have another individual I need you to look after.” He indicated the young Kindred woman. “I have saved you the trouble of hunting her down. This is Katia. You do not need to know _why_ she is in your custody, only that you are to keep her secure for the next several months.”

Jasper didn’t like the lack of information, but he nodded. He was being paid very well to not know some things. “Alright.”

“I don’t think she’ll give you much trouble,” Abrams said, “but if she does, you know how to contact me.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I will have you and her driven to our drop-off point. Can you handle her from there?”

“Does she have any dangerous disciplines I need to be aware of?” Jasper asked. He was only recently healed of the final wounds Talon’s Gangrel claws had given him and what he could remember of his Frenzied fight with her was fresh on his mind. Giving Katia a once-over, she certainly didn’t appear to be dangerous, but Jasper did not want to assume anything.

“She is a Toreador Neonate,” Abrams explained. “She is fast and presumably charming when she needs to be, but I do not know the full extent of her abilities.”

Jasper nodded again. No claws. Good. “Very well.” 

Jasper stood. The guards on either side of Katia grabbed her arms and stood her up. She whimpered faintly.

“Is there anything else, sir?” Jasper inquired of Abrams.

“No, that is all for now. I will be in touch.”

“May I make a request?”

Abrams arched an eyebrow and nodded. “You may.”

“I would like a new knife, please. The one I’ve been using for self defense was recently damaged beyond repair.”

“A combat knife?”

Jasper nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Abrams considered Jasper for a long moment before giving a confident nod. “Very well. I will have one sent to you later tonight.”

Jasper smiled. “Thank you.”

“Until then… good evening.”

“Good evening.”

Jasper left with the guards and their prisoner. He noted she was trying very hard not to look at him. Katia seemed scared and twitchy, like a fox cornered by hounds. A near complete opposite to Talon, Jasper reflected. He resolved not to let his guard down around her though. She might look weak now, but he knew that with Kindred, you must always assume that they are dangerous.

* * *

Jasper made sure that Katia was blindfolded before he brought her down underground. Abrams had implied that he wanted her back at some point, and Jasper didn’t want her revealing any exact details as to his sanctum’s location. She didn’t say a single word during the whole trip. The only sound she made was a devastated whimper when Jasper took the blindfold off and she saw the cage. He shoved her inside and locked it. She offered no resistance, merely sinking to the floor with her back against the wall and he knees bent up to her chest. She still had her hands bound behind her back with zip ties.

Jasper growled to himself. She looked almost… pathetic. “Get up. Come here.”

Katia looked at him fearfully and got to her feet, moving with a supernatural grace to keep her balance. It seemed to take all her willpower to step towards him.

“Turn around,” he said.

She did so. Jasper reached through the bars and broke her zip-ties with his hands. “There.”

Katia turned and backed away from him, looking confused, her hands close to her chest now in an effort to comfort herself. That was a kind act she had not been expecting. “Thank you,” she said very, very softly.

Jasper licked his fangs. “Here is how things are going to work down here,” he told her. “I am going to bring you people you can eat. In return, I am going to feed from you occasionally.”

Katia’s eyes went wide again and she took another step back. She had difficulty maintaining eye contact with him. Her lower lip trembled and she looked like she was about to cry. Jasper wondered what the hell she could have done to have made Abrams want to lock her away.

 _“It doesn’t matter,”_ he told himself. _“She’s a vampire. She’s a monster.”_

“If you fight me,” Jasper continued, “I’m going to make your time here very, very difficult for you.” he allowed a growl to seep into his voice. She retreated back another step, intimidated. “Are we clear?”

Katia nodded quickly, her back pressed up against the far wall of the cell.

“Good,” Jasper snarled. He decided to leave her alone to settle in for a little while. He left to patrol for potential horrible mortals to capture.

* * *

Jasper returned hours later sans a meal for Katia, but with a beautiful new combat knife Abrams had left for him at the drop-off. A sheath for the blade had been included that could be strapped to Jasper’s jeans or back. Jasper was looking forward to the chance to test it out. Part of him, likely the snarly part down in his chest where his Beast was metaphorically contained, wondered if Katia would be the one to give him that chance. He was hungry, and regardless of whether or not he had found someone for Katia to feed from tonight, Jasper decided that _he_ was going to feed.

 _“Time to taste the new girl,”_ his Beast sneered. _“She looks… fresh. I hope she fights back.”_

As soon as Jasper got back down into his sanctum, he knew the knife was probably not going to be necessary. Katia had been crying. There was dried blood on her cheeks and the scent of it was arousing his Beast. She whimpered again when she saw him and tried to back away as far as she could. 

Jasper had been ready for a fight. He was still used to Talon’s hostility. There was almost none of that in Katia. Still, Jasper kept his guard up as he approached the cage. “Come here.”

“Don’t hurt me,” she whimpered, taking a tiny step forward.

“I’m going to feed from you.”

 _“Yes, yes take her…”_ his Beast urged. Jasper gritted his teeth.

“No, please…” Katia pleaded. She could see the hungry look in his cold eyes.

Jasper sighed. “I have to. Come here!”

Katia was frozen, trembling. “P-please…”

Jasper growled, considering her. He could get angry, but she was already afraid of him. He didn’t think she was deliberately trying to rile him up like Talon always did. “I told you not to fight me on this,” he warned her. He could feel his Beast getting more and more impatient.

“Please don’t kill me,” Katia begged. She took another small step closer and Jasper was able to reach through the bars and grab her sweatshirt. She yelped as he yanked her towards him. Katia shrieked, pulled against him and the bars. She was not listening, her body in panic mode and trying to flee. He easily held her tight. She had no Potence to resist him properly.

“I won’t,” Jasper told her harshly, holding onto her arm tightly so she couldn't get away. She continued to scream and cry, smacking his hand with her free one, trying to get him to let her go. Jasper made an attempt to soften his voice. “Katia! Katia, listen to me! Calm down. Stop! Just… shh, shh…”

She stopped trying to smack his arm away. He could feel her shaking in his grip as she stared at him, terror struck. 

“I won’t hurt you,” Jasper continued, as calmly as he could. “Just a bite. That’s all. I’ll just feed a little and I’ll bring you someone tomorrow night. We’re either going to do this now, while I have some control over myself, or later when I don’t. Either way though, this is happening, alright?”

Katia tugged again weakly, blinking at him, unable to get out of his grip. Her face crumpled as she choked back a sob, resigned to her fate. “Okay. Okay…”

Jasper rolled up one of her sleeves and brought her wrist to his mouth. He noticed she had freckles scattered down her arm. She turned her face away, unable to watch. Her whimpers turned into a gasp, and she flinched as he bit into her pale wrist. Katia’s Vitae, much like the rest of her, was also very different than Talon’s. There was a Toreador sweetness that brought to Jasper’s mind distant memories of honey and maple. It was far from the wild, gamy nature of Gangrel Vitae. He could taste Katia’s intense fear and just a hint of melancholy. She knew that although she had superhuman abilities, she was no match for the far stronger Nosferatu. She was as helpless as a Kindred could be.

Jasper took the edge off his Beast’s thirst with the promise to himself that there would be more of this in the future. He licked her arm and let her go. Katia darted back, quickly rolling down her sleeve. She hugged herself, amazed to still be in one piece after all that. She had been expecting something far worse. Jasper watched her for a moment, judging her reaction. She sniffled and tried to wipe her face. She wasn’t furious with him, just… sad and frightened. She was watching him too, perhaps waiting for him to attack her again.

“Okay?” he asked.

Katia didn’t answer. She dropped her gaze down to the concrete floor.

“I’ll bring you someone tomorrow,” Jasper told her. He gave her a little grin. “I hope you like criminals.”

She remained silent, merely shrugging a little in response. Jasper watched as she shuffled back and curled up in the corner of the barren cell.

“I’m going to be stuck here for a long time, aren’t I?” she asked very quietly. She still wasn’t looking at him. Her gaze was somewhere down towards her sneakers.

“Probably, yeah,” Jasper answered.

“No one’s going to come for me. They don’t care about me.” She shook her head glumly. “What’s… what’s going to happen to me? Are you going to kill me?”

“I… have no intention of killing you, so long as you don’t try to escape,” Jasper said. “I’ve been told to keep you here for a few months. I don’t know what will happen to you after that.”

Katia sniffled and groaned, holding her stomach. “It hurts inside.”

“That’s the Beast. I’ll bring you food tomorrow,” he promised again.

“Could I…” Katia’s voice cracked. She swallowed, trying to maintain her composure. “Can I have like… a pillow or something? Please?”

Jasper wanted to ask her why she wanted the pillow, but then he took in her surroundings again. She was in a cold, barren cell. He had never added anything to the cage to try to make it comfortable. 

 _“Maybe if I had done something like that for Talon,”_ he thought, _“she might not have hated me so much. Actually, no… she still would have hated me regardless. She probably would have shredded the pillow. Besides… it wasn’t that long ago I was sleeping on the cold ground in the other room… I was so happy when I got my bed...”_

“Fine,” Jasper consented. “I’ll get you a pillow. If you’re good, I’ll even drag a mattress down here for you.”

“Thank you,” Katia said softly, sadly. She buried her face in her hands, her fingers tangling in her red hair. Jasper left her again in solitude and went to his little library to try to get some Latin study done. 

Though Katia wasn’t combative, Jasper still thought these next few months were going to be a little tough on him in their own way. Just now, Katia reminded him just now so much of Chloe when she was upset that it make his chest hurt. He found himself hoping that she would fight back a little more next time. He wasn’t used to such a passive victim. It made him feel extra monstrous.

* * *

Two weeks later, Jasper was back on campus at Griffith College. Orientation time had arrived and classes were beginning soon for the new school year. It was Friday night. He had been there every night this week, lurking with Obfuscate on the roof of the Student Union building. Jasper was there as soon as he woke in the evening, and lingered until late at night when the foot traffic trickled down to the odd security guard and lost student. 

From this spot, Jasper had a fantastic view of the outdoor quad, where the majority of the student and staff population would pass to get from one building to another. The Student Union, library, medical centre, Temple of Boom music building, Grounds for Coffee cafe, and the dorm block he and Chloe used to live in all faced the quad. There was a large and expensive fountain in the middle of the quad. Students often used it as a meeting place. Buskers and fundraisers would sometimes set up shop in the quad, taking advantage of the heavy foot traffic.

Jasper wasn’t just interested in people watching. As interesting as it had been seeing the human population on campus swell each night as everyone returned from summer break, Jasper was on a mission. He had been waiting on that roof every night this week because he was waiting to see Chloe. 

He hoped she was going to re-enroll for another semester, but had no proof that she did. Jasper had worried all summer that his sudden disappearance from his dorm room last year and subsequent death was going to make Chloe not want to return to Griffith. Not that he could blame her for that. He knew she finished out the year last year, though he suspected she did continued school at Griffith, she was going to have to retake a few courses this semester to make up for work and time she lost.

Jasper growled to himself. It was getting late and there was still no Chloe. He wondered if he should repeat this pattern of stalking the roof again next week, or if it was futile.

 _"Maybe she isn’t coming back?”_ he wondered. _“Maybe she’s moved back home?_

_Moved away… moved on…_

_But that’s good, right? If she’s moved on?”_

But if she moved on… if she didn’t come back to the college… then Jasper had no way of knowing where she was. True, he knew where her family lived, a few states over, but leaving Los Angeles was not going to be easy for him at this point. 

Jasper just wanted Chloe to be happy and safe, wherever she was and whatever she was doing. He didn’t think he could just get by on hope alone that she was alright. These past two months of not seeing her over the summer had been rough on him. He needed to lay eyes on her, to reassure himself.

_“If anything terrible happened to her… like what happened to me... I don’t know what I would do. I think… it would break me.”_

Jasper was about to give up for the night when he finally, _finally_ , spotted a woman in a familiar jacket with and an even more familiar wave of red hair walking with a group of other girls out of Grounds for Coffee. He moved quickly and silently to the other side of the roof to get a closer look. He had to be _sure_ it was her.

Yes! Chloe! There was no mistake. She was walking home with friends. It was late, of course. She was tired and headed home to sleep. Jasper saw Chloe and two others enter their dormitory building together, yawning and chatting as they went.

Jasper smiled wistfully as he watched Chloe disappear into the building. She was alright! More than that, she looked well, happy and healthy. For that, Jasper was glad. He sighed in relief, reclining back against the filthy roof, not caring if his clothes got dirty. He could feel the ghost of the August sun’s heat still radiating up through the stone and tiles. A large metaphorical weight had been lifted off his chest. Jasper allowed himself a moment to admire the few stars he could see through the LA light pollution.

Distant voices drifted up to Jasper’s ears from the quad below, breaking his momentary peaceful spell.

“Okay, buddy, time to move on! Let’s go!”

“But I haven’t found it yet!”

“Get out of the fountain! Let’s go!”

Curious, Jasper shifted back around to the other side and peered over the edge. Two security guards were arguing with a man who was standing in the calf-deep in the quad fountain with his pants rolled up. The man looked like a bohemian beach bum with floppy, curly hair and a knitted cap. Jasper had never seen him on campus before. He watched as the guards all but manhandled him out of the fountain, barely waiting for him to grab his sandals before marching him off campus.

Jasper frowned. That was a little weird, but it was the beginning of school. Some people never wanted the summer fun to end.

Jasper glanced back towards Chloe’s building. She was back where he could keep an eye on her. This was good. He still missed her so much it hurt inside. Having Katia, who reminded him of Chloe in lots of little ways, currently trapped in his sanctum didn’t help. 

_“So long as Chloe is alright, I will be alright.”_

Jasper climbed down to the ground and started to cross the campus under the cloak of Unseen Passage. He turned to follow the river towards his sanctum. Summer storms had given the river some substance lately, but Jasper knew it was only a matter of time before it dried out again. It made him miss the deeper rivers he had known in his childhood across the country.

“Hey!”

Jasper’s thoughts snapped to a halt. He stopped and glanced around. He had passed by what he thought was an empty bench facing the water and was surprised to see the man who had been recently escorted off Griffith Campus was sitting there. Jasper hadn’t heard or seen him approach or sit down, but he sure was there now. He was also looking right at Jasper, or at least in his direction.

Jasper froze, staring. No one should have been able to see him. He still had Obfuscate up.

“Yeah, you in the black hoodie! Come here. I want to talk to you… please?”

Jasper growled. Clearly, this was no ordinary person. Jasper gave him a quick assessment and determined that this bohemian was not likely to be a threat. He had a big, open, friendly face and dark eyes to match his hair. Jasper couldn’t see any weapons on him. Even if he did, Jasper was pretty sure he could take him in a fight. 

Jasper glanced up and down the river-side path they were on and, seeing no one, approached the strange man on the bench. Jasper let himself become visible and the man smiled at him.

“Hi!”

“Hi…” Jasper said with caution and suspicion. “How... could you see me?”

“Magic eyes.” The man winked and scooted over on the bench. He patted the seat next to him, inviting Jasper to sit down.

Jasper perched on the edge of the bench, suspicious but curious of this stranger. ‘Magic eyes’ could be a reference to Auspex, a power he knew some Kindred had that allowed them to see things mortals could not. This often included Obfuscated Kindred. Up close, it was more obvious now to Jasper that this other man was also a vampire. He wasn’t breathing, and that was always a clear if subtle sign. He smelled of the ocean and chlorinated fountain water. 

“Okay…” Jasper said. “So… what do you want?”

“I’m looking for something and… and it’s _really_ important that I find it and… I was hoping you could help me,” the stranger explained, suddenly sounding a little distressed.

“What are you looking for?” Jasper asked, still suspicious.

“A rock.”

Jasper arched an eyebrow at him. “A rock?”

“Mm-hmm!” The man nodded. “A very special rock.”

“Okay,” Jasper said slowly, deciding to humour him. “What’s special about it?”

“It doesn’t _think_ it’s special, but it is. People think that the rock is important even if the rock doesn’t believe it. It’s red, but NOT a ruby. It was very specific about that. Not a ruby.” He started to speak a little faster, trying to quell or keep ahead of some internal panic. “But it’s still red and special and important but it doesn’t know it’s important and I need to… need to find it…”

Jasper tried to follow along with this logic. “You’re looking for a red rock that’s not a ruby. Why is the rock red?”

“Because it has iron in it,” the other vampire answered. “It might not be red though! It could be green or black… maybe I’m looking for the black one…” He started to glance around again anxiously.

Jasper didn’t feel enormous amounts of pity or affection for any Kindred he had met so far, save perhaps for Eva. Despite this, there was something about this anxious man on the bench that made Jasper feel some sympathy. Like Katia, this Kindred was no major threat. 

“Easy, I’m sure you’ll find it, whatever it is,” Jasper said. “It’s a gemstone, right?”

“Or it could be a person,” the stranger answered.

Jasper blinked. “A person?”

“Or a not-person.”

Now Jasper was really confused. “Uh…” 

There was a pause, then Jasper snickered suddenly as a very silly thought coming to mind. “Is this not-person… famous? Perhaps a former wrestler?”

“No!” The stranger giggled. “No, not famous!”

“Okay, good,” Jasper grinned.

The other Kindred looked at him again, closely. Jasper watched as fear and worry on his face evaporated. He calmly took in Jasper’s Nosferatu ugliness without any visible disgust or shame. “Hey… can I ask you a super serious question?”

“Sure…” Jasper said.

“Are you alive?”

Jasper hadn’t been expecting that, nor for it to be asked so bluntly. He knew they were alone, but just to be safe, he lowered his voice as he answered truthfully. “Not technically, no. Um… are you?”

The other Kindred shook his head, dark curly hair flopping around. He was smiling. “No!” he whispered, like he was sharing an exciting secret.

Jasper was glad he seemed aware he was a vampire. He didn’t want to have to break the news to him.

“What’s your name?” Jasper asked.

“Oh, um…” The stranger looked away, out to the shallow river. He bit his lip, thinking for a moment. When he looked back up at Jasper, his voice was still cheery, but his eyes were very sad. “I’m X. That’s not my name, but it’s what I am now, so… that’s what you can call me.”

Jasper nodded. “Alright.”

“What’s _your_ name?”

“I’m Jasper.”

“Jasper…” X’s eyes moved down and away, thinking again, musing over the name as if he had heard it somewhere before, but couldn’t place it. “Jasper… Jasper…” His face lit up suddenly as some brilliant thought came to him. “Oh! _Jasper_! Hi.”

“Hi.” Jasper couldn't help but smile a little. He hadn’t met any other Kindred like this before. X did remind him of a few people he had known at school though. They had been smart and funny, but picked on and socially isolated by others not patient enough to help them. They had been among the very few whom Jasper had considered to be his friends back then. Jasper felt himself relaxing a little. X wasn’t a threat to him.

“Can I ask you another question?” X said.

“Sure,” Jasper consented.

“Are you a Nosferatu?” X asked in a stage whisper.

Jasper nodded slowly and gestured to his face. He was still amused, despite himself. “Did you think I might not be?”

“I try not to judge, or jump to conclusions. The last time I did that, it… didn’t end well.” X sounded like he was worried those demons were still haunting him. Jasper decided that he didn’t need to know about that just now.

“Alright, well… what’s your clan?” Jasper asked.

“Um… is it not obvious?” X didn’t sound arrogant, just anxious.

“I… haven’t been doing this for very long,” Jasper confessed, “and I haven’t met anyone, any Kindred, I mean, like you before, so… no?”

“Oh,” X sighed, understanding and relaxing. “That’s okay! I haven’t been doing this very long either. I’m a Malkavian.”

“Okay, and… what’s your… thing?”

“We’re crazy,” X said bluntly. He nodded a little to stress the truth of it. “Yeah…”

Jasper snickered, a little awkward about X’s candid answer. His laugh had a slight snarl to it. “I wasn’t going to say, but…”

“Oh no, it’s okay! I’m not offended!” X chuckled. “It’s our thing. We… “ X sighed, searching for the right words. “Mmm… I’ve been _told_ that it’s our curse, or our particular bane, like how you being ugly is _your_ curse and the Toreador being obsessive is _their_ curse and the Ventrue being like, totally particular about their food is _their_ curse and… etcetera.”

Jasper smirked, understanding and learning. He didn’t know that information about clan Ventrue’s bane before now. If it was true, it was very interesting. He made a mental note.

“But it’s not all bad all the time,” X continued. “I get visions. I can see the future, kind of. Trouble is, because it’s hard to tell what’s _real_ sometimes, and what’s _not_ and because everyone knows we’re crazy… sometimes we get… you know…” X fidgeted, wringing his hands, “kicked out of places, for example.” He gestured over his shoulder back the way they came towards the college.

Jasper found himself sympathising harder now with X. He was growing increasingly familiar with Kindred judging him at first glance, or at least making a visible show of trying _not_ to judge him. In some ways, that was worse.

X sighed, looking out over the water again. He scuffed his sandals against the ground. They were old and starting to fall apart. “So… not been doing this long, huh?”

Jasper shook his head, looking out over the river as well. The city lights in the distance were quite pretty, and if he turned his head, he could see just a little hint of the Hollywood Sign. “No. Less than a year.”

“It’s awful… isn’t it?” This was more of a statement from X than a question.

“Yeah,” Jasper snarled softly. “I’ve met a lot of others who like to pretend that it isn’t, but… they’re wrong.”

“Well… they’re not the ones up an elephant’s butt.”

Jasper’s forehead creased in a very confused and bewildered frown. He bit his lip to stop from laughing too loudly, but a snicker still escaped as he slowly turned to look at the Malkavian. “What? Dare I ask…?”

X smiled and gave a dismissive little wave. “Long story. I’ll tell you another night.”

Jasper licked his fangs, still quietly laughing. “Alright.”

“I had a dream about coming here, and looking for that rock,” X said, his voice a little wistful. “I kind of felt like if I didn’t… something really bad was going to happen, so… here I am. I came all the way from Santa Monica.”

“Do you want to keep looking for it?” Jasper asked.

“For what?”

“For… your rock.”

X shrugged, suddenly chipper again. “No, I think I’m good, thanks. I should get going but… can I do something first, just quickly?”

“What?”

X held both of his hands out to him, palms up and open. “I want to see your future.”

Jasper shook his head and kept his hands and arms close to himself. He had no doubt about his answer. “Uh… No, thanks.”

X closed his hands and brought them back to his body. He looked a mixture of disappointed and relieved. “You sure?”

“I think so, yeah. Maybe another time.”

“Um… okay. No worries.” X’s disappointment quickly evaporated and he brightened again. “Just um… be careful of yourself, alright? Can I get your phone number? Do you have a phone?”

“Yeah, but why do you want my number?”

X reached over and patted Jasper’s arm. He gave the Nosferatu a big smile and Jasper could see the points of his canines. “Well, you’re my friend now, and so I should probably have your phone number, yeah?”

Jasper was confused again. “ _Am_ I your friend? We’ve just met.”

“Yeah, fast friends!” X said, like it was obvious. “It’s a sad, scary, dark world out there. A world of darkness… and we _need_ friends or we’re not going to survive.”

“But… we’re dead already, X,” Jasper pointed out. He could see X’s point, but still felt the need to remind him of that. He was smiling as he said it, and X saw that Jasper was laughing _with_ him not _at_ him. It only served to endear him more to the Malkavian.

“I mean like… dead-dead,” X clarified. “True death. Final death. Not like… a Hollywood ending.”

Jasper nodded.

“So… phone number?” X prompted.

Jasper chuckled. He gave in and swapped numbers with him. 

“Thank you, Jasper. I’m off. You take care!”

“You too, I guess.”

X seemed content as he walked away down the river path. He whistled to himself and Jasper recognised the tune to be “If I Only Had A Brain” from _‘The Wizard of Oz.’_

“Well… that was different,” Jasper muttered quietly to no one in particular. He was still smiling a little though. Yeah… he decided he liked X. The Malkavian meant well, and was entertaining. Also, Jasper suspected that if Victor or Nelli ever met X, they wouldn’t like him much. All the better. 

Jasper re-cloaked himself with Unseen Passage and headed back to his sanctum.


	11. September

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper goes hunting and things do not go according to plan.

Jasper had to hunt. He didn’t have a choice. Katia was quiet and passive, but the longer she went without blood, the meaner she became. She was nowhere near as bad as Talon had been, but she still had a Beast inside her. Jasper wasn’t worried about her being mean. He was, however, a little worried about her hurting herself, or him, and her body not having enough Vitae to feed him when he next needed it. So, because he couldn’t let her hunt for herself, he had to do it.

Jasper took to the streets, stalking for the right kind of person to kidnap and feed to a hungry vampire. He didn’t want to inflict this doom onto an innocent. He had to find someone who was the mortal scum of the Earth. He knew where he might find one or two of those. During his time walking the streets and allies not long after his Embrace, Jasper had seen some horrors. People stealing from the homeless, drug dealers, muggers, pimps. Some of the worst Los Angeles had to offer. He knew where to find them. He slipped, cloaked with Obfuscate, into the shadows of the dark side of L.A.

The plan was to sneak up behind someone, grab them, knock them out, then carry them back to his haven. If he had to use the sewers to get there, so be it. He wasn’t very good at hiding while carrying a body. It wasn’t the carrying that was the problem. In fact, if he was brutally honest with himself, he kind of enjoyed the extra strength. No, it was just more difficult to avoid being noticed while carrying someone. He hoped that remaining unseen while interacting with people or things was something he could learn how to do if he survived along enough.

Jasper crept around downtown Los Angeles, headed for Skid Row. Hunting was easy there for someone like him. Almost too easy, really. There were thousands of homeless people to pick from, both good folks on hard times, and criminals trying to take advantage of those less fortunate. It wasn’t long before Jasper spotted someone who he recognised as a known mugger and a thief. Jasper never knew what his name was, but he had seen him around and knew his reputation. Perfect. He was waiting for his own prey to come by in an alley across the street from Jasper.

Jasper started across the road, casting a quick glance up and down the street as he moved.

A black Toyota, driven by a man who had taken too much meth and was fleeing from his metaphorical and literal demons, rounded the bend. To say he was speeding was an understatement. He was barely paying attention to the road.

Not that he would have seen Jasper anyway, Obfuscated as he was crossing the road in the path of the vehicle.

Jasper heard the car engine, saw the headlights, and tried to dodge.

He wasn’t fast enough.

The Toyota clipped Jasper’s legs, shattering his knees and sending him flying. He landed hard on his head and left arm, breaking those as well. His body rolled a few times, then stopped. He lay there, face down, dead still.

The car never stopped. It rounded another bend and disappeared, tires screeching loudly.

The man Jasper had been stalking saw the whole thing. He swore to himself and, being extra careful to look both ways so he wouldn't get cleaned up like that poor schmuck did, crossed over to the black-clad body laying in the street. 

“Oh, shit! You okay man?” he called.

As he got closer, he could tell that nope, this poor loser was _not_ okay. He could see at a glance that this dude was D-E-A-D dead. His body wasn’t moving, not even with breath. Good thing too, in a way. From the angle some of his limbs seemed to be bent at, to have survived through this would have left him in terrible pain and astronomical hospital bills.

The thief glanced up and down the street once again, this time checking for witnesses. It was a shame to die in the street like a dog, but this dude wasn’t going to need his wallet or any other valuables on him any more, that was for sure. Might be some good shit to pawn, if he was lucky. He had no guilt about stealing from the dead. He did it all the damn time.

Careful not to disturb the body too much, the man felt the corpse for a wallet. He grimaced to himself. Holy shit, this dude was foul even before he died. There was nothing in the jeans,  and nothing in the hoodie save for a pen and some paper. He did find a huge combat knife strapped to his back though. That was weird, and a little creepy. He was about to take the knife when the corpse suddenly moved with a loud, pissed-off snarl.

The man screamed in shock and terror.

Jasper grabbed him with his good arm and slammed him as hard as he could into the curb. There was a _crunch_ and the thief went still, alive but down for good.

Jasper was in a world of pain. He growled and moaned, gritting his teeth. He had broken bones before as a child, but never so many and all at once. He was already hungry from his stealthy trip to the slums, but he forced his Beast into rousing and complying with his current needs. He was out in the open. Vulnerable. Anyone could find him. This was the worst kind of Masquerade risk.

 _“Heal my legs, damn it, so we can get out of here!”_ he snarled to the monster inside of him.

_“But will we get the good stuff later?”_

_“Only if we HEAL and get the HELL OUT OF HERE!”_

Jasper bit into his fist, drawing blood, to stop the scream of pain that wanted to tear out of his throat as his legs and knees repaired themselves. Bones, muscles and tendons shifted. He had to stop after he felt his knees click back into place. The pain was too great. He hadn’t even started on his left arm, which hung twisted and useless at his side. His head throbbed with a skull fracture from where he had landed on the pavement. He forced himself up, quivering with pain, and grabbed the body of the thief.

Jasper limped and snarled his way to a sewer grate, pried it up, and disappeared down with the thief’s body slung over his back. The trip back to his sanctum was awful. Jasper cursed himself with every painful step of the way. He had been such an idiot. True, the car was speeding and hadn’t seen him, but still… Jasper thought he ought to have avoided it somehow.

_“I should be dead. A hit like that should have killed me. Good thing I’m dead already. Ha. Ha.”_

The pains of hunger also rumbled throughout his body. He was in a bad, bad way.

_“At least… I got someone for Katia… and then I can feed… and then I’ll be alright...”_

* * *

Katia was laying on the mattress Jasper had brought down into the sanctum for her, singing quietly to herself when Jasper dragged himself and the unconscious thief inside the sanctum. He was dimly aware of how lovely Katia’s voice was. She could be a professional, singing at any number of theatres or concert halls in the city to an adoring audience. Instead she was trapped in a Nosferatu’s cage under Griffith Park. Jasper still didn’t know what crime she had committed to have Abrams want her imprisoned in his cell. At that moment, however, he did not care one drop.

“And we all say, ‘Oh! Well, I never! Was there ever a cat so clever as magical Mister Mistoffelees?’” Katia sang to herself.

She stopped abruptly when Jasper came in with his hard-won prize. Jasper slung the body to the ground, all but collapsing at the cage door. Katia looked at him, scared and worried.

“What happened?” she asked.

Jasper snarled. His voice was rough with pain and hunger. “Was hit by a car. Eat.” He nudged the body towards her.

“Oh, God…” Katia moaned with need. She reached through and pulled the man closer to her. She yanked his sleeve up to expose his wrist. Jasper heard her growl softly as a dark look came into her eyes. Yes, she was hungry, and her Beast was about to get what it wanted. Good. Katia bit down, starting to drink. She hummed to herself in pleasure as she did.

The feeding seemed to last a very long time. There had been a long gap between this one and the last time she had an opportunity to feed. Jasper waited, watching, trying not to growl to himself but not being able to help it.

Katia gasped suddenly and dropped the man’s arm. It landed limply on the ground. All colour and life was gone from his face. She looked in horror at the body, then at Jasper.

“I think… I think I killed him!” she cried. “Oh, no! I didn’t mean to! No, no...”

“It’s fine,” Jasper growled.

“I… I’ve never…” Katia backed away, a hand to her mouth, horrified. “I’ve only… oh God! But I was so hungry! It just… it tasted so good and...”

Jasper moved towards her. “It’s fine,” he said again. “Come here.”

“Hey… the voice in my head is quiet now. I feel so good! Is that what happens when we kill?”

“Yeah. You… you didn’t know that?” Jasper was surprised. 

Katia shook her head. “No but… That’s… that’s not so bad. I mean… I feel bad, but… hmm…” 

Jasper could see the cogs starting to turn in her head. Another growl rumbled out of his throat. She was becoming more of a monster right in front of his eyes.

_“Is this my fault?”_

He quickly pushed that thought aside and shouted at her. “Come here so I can heal!”

Katia flinched at Jasper’s roar. She glared at him. For the first time since he had met her, Jasper saw something on her face other than fear, sadness or blank depression. She was angry now. “There is no need to shout at me! You’re scaring me! It’s bad enough I’m locked in here without you shouting at me!” she snapped back, almost shouting herself. “I know you need to heal. I’m not an idiot! Why do you have to feed from me? Huh? You can feed from anyone! I’m just stuck with whoever _you_ bring me!”

Jasper grinned. He was pleased, or rather, his Beast was. Finally, she was fighting back. He got the impression that she had been keeping this frustration bottled up for a few weeks now, and her true emotions were starting to leak out.

“Right now, Katia, I don’t want to feed from anyone. I want to feed from you,” he said calmly and slowly. His every word had a dark snarl rippling through it. “Come. Here. Now. Please.”

“But-”

“I’ll take the mattress away,” Jasper threatened.

Katia’s defiant expression fell away. “No, no please! I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I’m just… so frustrated.”

Jasper snarled and reached through the bars, beckoning her closer to him with his good hand.

Katia sighed. “I hate this, you know. I hate it all.” She took a step towards him, rolling up her sleeve. “Don’t you dare fucking grab me,” she warned him.

“Fine. I won’t. Probably can’t right now anyways. My arm’s broken.”

Katia’s eyes looked over his horrible wounds. “I can see that. Looks… bad.”

“It is. Come here.”

“I _am_ ,” Katia argued. She gave Jasper her wrist and he bit into her gratefully. Her sweet, sweet Vitae flowed into his mouth.

“ _Yeeesssss…_ ” his Beast hissed, pleased and yet always yearning for more.

Jasper savoured her. The honey-maple of Katia’s Vitae was tinged a little bitter with her anger, fear and frustration like sweet lemon cut through with the darkest chocolate. He took a few greedy swallows. His Beast wanted him to take more. It took a great push of effort for Jasper to stop himself and pull back from Katia’s wrist. He licked her wound closed and she grunted in deep disgust. Jasper watched her wipe her wrist on her pants as she stepped away from him and went back over to her bare mattress on the floor. She sat down and glared at him some more.

“Feel better?” she asked, her tone still very annoyed.

“A little,” he admitted.

“Good. Don’t forget to get rid of… that.” She glared at the corpse of the would-be thief. “I can’t exactly take him out myself.”

Jasper growled at her and dragged the corpse out to be disposed of in a gorge in Griffith Park.

* * *

Jasper had successfully disposed of the body and was limping back to his sanctum through the park when he heard a familiar voice call his name. 

“Jasper?”

Jasper froze as Eva came into view, stepping neatly out from behind a tree. She had a small wicker basket over her arm. He worried that she might have seen him disposing of the body, but she was smiling at him. It did not seem like he had been caught red-handed.

“Good evening,” she said.

“Hello Eva,” Jasper replied. His voice was still tight with pain.

Eva noticed right away and frowned, coming closer. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I um… I got hit by a car. I was crossing the street with Obfuscate and they didn’t see me and…” He chuckled. “I was stupid.”

Eva came right up to him. Her brow creased with worry. She noted his left arm, still hanging limply by his side. “Oh, my… Oh, your arm... “ She tisked sadly, shaking her head. “You poor thing.”

“I’ll be alright,” he assured her. “It used to be a lot worse. I’ll heal more tomorrow night.”

Eva sighed. “It’s a shame… I was going to ask for your help with something tonight, but…”

That surprised Jasper. “What-what was it you wanted help with?”

“Some Thaumaturgy, but it’s alright. I can handle it on my own.”

Jasper snarled in disappointment, beating himself up some more. _“I’m so fucking stupid…”_

“If you’re sure,” he said out loud. “I… I might be able to still…” he trailed off, seeing Eva’s sad face. He sighed. “If you’re still going to do it, could I watch?”

“Hmm…” Eva considered this. “I wouldn't usually just let anyone watch me. The secrets of the Tremere are very closely guarded.”

Jasper licked his fangs, nervous. “Well… if anyone knows about keeping secrets, it would be a Nosferatu, right? Besides… you just said you wanted my help.”

Eva smiled. “That is true. Well… do you promise not to tell anyone of what you see tonight?”

“Yes,” Jasper answered without hesitation. 

“If I find that you have broken that promise… I will not be happy, Jasper,” Eva warned.

He shook his head. “And of course, you would have every right to be upset with me, but I promise, Eva. I won’t tell.”

“Alright,” she said reluctantly. “Come with me.”

Jasper followed her through the park. He was still limping painfully, but did his very best not to show it. He caught Eva giving him little worried glances. He tried to smile at her, but it mostly came off as a pained grimace.

“You can help me look for belladonna,” Eva told Jasper. “I’m going to make a potion with it.”

“Nightshade?”

Eva nodded. “Yes.”

“What kind of potion? A poison?” he asked.

“No… just a little something for me.”

“What will it do?”

“When I finish brewing it, it will make something called ‘Essence of Air,’” Eva explained, scanning their surroundings for an appropriate belladonna bush. “This potion allows the caster to fly.”

Jasper grinned. “That’s… amazing,” he said, looking at Eva in awe. “It’s so cool that you can do that.”

Eva gave him a humble little smile. “I’ve… tweaked the recipe a little. Normally, it can only be consumed the same night it’s made, or else the potion loses its potency. I’ve learned how to preserve the potion so that it can be used much later if I need it.”

Jasper didn’t think his admiration of Eva could grow any more, but it did. “You worked that out… on your own? Through experimenting?”

She nodded and glanced down shyly. “Yes. It’s usually… frowned upon to do that, but...”

“Why?” Jasper asked, flabbergasted. “You improved the potion by figuring out how to preserve it. That’s amazing!”

“They… others in my clan whom I used to work with… they tend to be extremely… traditional,” Eva explained. “Ah, here we are.”

They had come upon a large belladonna bush. A sign had been tied to a nearby tree warning humans not to eat the dark berries. 

WARNING! DEADLY NIGHTSHADE!

DO NOT TOUCH OR CONSUME!

“If you could…” Eva considered Jasper with his one good arm, then handed him her wicker basket. “Hold this for me please?”

“Sure.” Jasper took the basket. He was sorry he couldn't be of more help, but he didn’t want to complain. He was glad to have this time with Eva regardless. She was helping him learn, and that was what was important.

Eva set about carefully picking ripe berries and leaves from the nightshade plant. She added them to the basket. Jasper enjoyed watching her work. She was quiet and efficient, expertly picking the exact leaves and berries for what she needed. It didn’t take long for the basket to fill. Eva took it back from Jasper.

“Thank you. Now, if you’ll come with me…” she turned and headed towards the Observatory. “Are you comfortable with fire?”

“Fire? Um…” Jasper thought back to his dinners with Garry Golden and his coterie. Garry tended to light his haven with candles. Jasper shrugged. “I’m okay with it, I guess.”

“Have you Frenzied from it before?”

“Um… no.”

Eva gave him another critical look. “I’m not sure… if I should let you come with me for this next part. I need to brew the berries and leaves over a brazier and I do not want to risk your Beast getting agitated. If you Frenzy and flee, you might hurt yourself again.”

Jasper frowned with a little growl.

“I am sorry, Jasper,” Eva said gently.

“It’s… it’s okay,” he said. He sighed, trying not to growl, his eyes downcast. His disappointment was palpable.

Eva touched his good arm gently. “Another night, perhaps. Go home and get some rest. It saddens me to see you hurt.”

Jasper looked back up into Eva’s worried face. It made her sad to see him hurt? He didn’t want to worry her or disappoint her.

“Um… yeah, sure. I’ll see you later,” Jasper said with a little nod.

She gave him a sad little smile. “Until next time, then. Feel better soon, Jasper. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” Jasper turned and limped back down the hill towards his haven, giving Eva a little wave goodbye. 

 _“One of these nights,”_ he promised himself, _“I’ve got to try to get her to teach me something. Blood magic… Thaumaturgy secrets… yes… one of these nights… whatever it takes.”_


	12. October

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper and Eva make a deal. A boon for a boon.

A few nights before Halloween, Jasper entered Griffith Park on a mission. He had texted Eva the evening prior, asking to see her. She had granted this request and the meeting was set to this night. Jasper didn’t want this to merely be a pleasant visit. He had something very important to ask her. He had wanted to ask Eva about this for many weeks now. He felt like if he didn’t inquire about it soon, he might never will. He screwed his courage to the sticking place as he crept quietly towards the Observatory. He was nervous, but tried to stamp that down, telling himself the worst she could say was “no,” and then that would be that. No harm done, just another curious question from her Nosferatu neighbour...

But if she said “yes…”

Jasper had been Kindred for almost a year at this point. He couldn't help but reflect on that a little. It made him unspeakably sad and angry. He grieved for the life that had been stolen from him, for the love he lost. He didn’t want to think about where he would be right now if he were alive, or what he would be doing. It was useless to imagine a future that would never happen, no matter how hard he wished. Jasper Heartwood the human man was dead. Jasper the Nosferatu’s time was still only just beginning. It was unclear at this point if he had a bright future or not, but Jasper thought it was safe to assume not.

Still… he had persisted and survived. He had been through a lot since November 2013. Most of it had been deeply unpleasant, but one or two things shone through as small moments that could be considered good.

Most of those moments had involved Eva.

Jasper thought she was still as beautiful, ethereal, elegant and angelic as the night he had met her, but not in the grand, boastful way of the Toreador. She never used her beauty as a weapon. It simply just… was. It was as if she was unaware of her good looks, or thought she didn’t have them at all. She didn’t try to pretend she wasn’t a monster.

And despite her beauty, she enjoyed his company and didn’t flinch away at his touch. Most others still flinched away from him if he got too close, even if they were polite about it. The way they despised his appearance seemed to overrule their systems despite social niceties.

Eva was waiting for him by the Observatory tower, basking in the moonlight. Jasper approached and she smiled in welcome.

“Good evening, Jasper.”

“Good evening, Eva. How are you?”

“I am well, thank you. How are you?”

“I am fine. I um…” he ran his tongue nervously over his fangs. He wanted to get to the point, but didn’t want to be rude. He could be rude to Victor and Nelli, he could joke with X, and he might even snark at Abrams or Gary if he was feeling bold. He would not allow himself to be rude to Eva though. She was… special. “I have something important I wanted to ask you about.”

Eva tilted her head a tiny bit and smiled kindly at Jasper. She had never tired of answering his questions. She loved to foster and encourage his mind. Jasper saw that her hair was braided with very pretty tiny pink and white flowers this night. “What is it?” she inquired.

“I, um… I want to learn blood magic… if you’re willing to teach it to me… please?” Jasper glanced down at the grassy ground, wringing his hands. He didn’t know why he was so nervous about this. It was _Eva._ He had known her for months now. He counted her as… well, as a friend. Kindred didn’t tend to have ‘friends,’ he knew, but… if Eva wasn’t a friend, then she was a strong ally at the very least.

Hers was the first kind Kindred face he had seen, the first gentle voice he had heard.

If there was such a thing as a ‘good’ vampire, then she was the one.

He valued her opinions and her opinion of him.

“You… want to learn blood magic?” Eva asked, clarifying.

Jasper looked up at her and nodded. “Please.”

“Why?”

Jasper felt like he was being tested. “For the pursuit of knowledge. You… you told me when we first met that I had potential. I can feel that potential in my blood. I want to harness it and use it.”

“What do you want to use it for?”

Another test, but Jasper knew what to say. “To survive.”

She considered that for a few moments. “Would you use it to harm others? There are rituals and spells I could teach you that would be extremely harmful if used against people or Kindred. You could kill someone without ever seeing them, and they would die in great agony.”

“I don’t like killing humans, and… if I need to kill others, I don’t need blood magic to do that,” Jasper confessed with a wry little smirk. “I would only use what you teach me in self-defense.”

“Thaumaturgy is not a toy and it is not a game,” Eva said sternly.

“No, I know it isn’t.”

“If… I teach it to you… I want two things in return.”

This slightly surprised Jasper. He knew she would want to trade, but not for more than one thing. Still, he was willing to hear her out. Such was his desire to learn. “What are they?”

“First, you are to swear to me that you won’t harm an innocent with the blood magic I teach you. Swear to me by your own Vitae.”

That seemed easy enough, but Jasper knew she would not let him get away with a flippant oath. This would mean something important. He didn’t know what would happen if he broke that oath, but he didn’t want to find out. That was one secret that, for once, he was okay with not finding the answer to. “What’s the other thing?”

“The other thing is… I want to learn one of your disciplines in return.”

“One of my…?”

“In particular, Obfuscate, the ability to disappear as you do.”

“Oh.” Jasper blinked, processing what she had said. “And… that would mean you would have to… drink my Vitae?”

“As you would have to drink mine with the intent to learn blood magic, yes.”

As Eva spoke, Jasper saw a tiny glimpse of her fangs. They looked delicate and sharp, but he knew not to underestimate them. They could pierce his flesh as easily as…

… as easily as…

_He had been asleep in bed. Warm. Safe. Human. Vulnerable. Someone had come in through his window. He never heard them coming, never knew…_

_Why me?_

_They grabbed him by the head and face and lifted him out of bed._

_What if he had screamed louder? Fought harder? Would that have made any difference?_

_Would he still be alive now, safe and warm, with Chloe beside him? Would they be married by now?_

“I-I, um…” he muttered.

Eva tilted her head, concerned. “Jasper?”

Jasper suddenly sunk down to the ground, squatting in the grass. His head bowed, his fingers laced over the back of his hood that protected the world from seeing the inky black veins that crossed his scalp. If his heart were beating, it would have burst from panic. This had been a bad idea. He never should have asked...

_His heart had been beating then. It had been panicking then._

_His heart hasn't beat in almost twelve months._

_Fangs in his neck, sharp and jagged like a shark. His blood, his life, stolen away._

_He was going to die. He was going to be cursed._

_What had he done to deserve this? Something truly awful…_

_Or was he an innocent? No one deserved this fate, no one…_

_Oh, God… I don’t want to die! I didn’t want to die..._

“Jasper?”

_Pain and cold and darkness and hunger, the soul-destroying hunger!_

Without thinking about it, Jasper’s hand slipped under his hood at the neck. His cold, dead fingers pressed against his throat where his sire had killed him.

_Still don’t know who it was… never found out… might never will..._

Eva’s voice pushed through his dark, frightened flashback. “Jasper, are you alright?”

“Mmm?” Jasper growled. He blinked and saw Eva looking at him. She was kneeling on the grass in front of him, one white lace-gloved hand hovering near his shoulder, but not yet touching him.

_Talon bit me too, fangs all the way to the bone._

_No, no, no, no, no..._

“Jasper…?” Eva asked again, anxiously.

“Yeah,” he said roughly, trying and failing to sound alright. “Yeah… I’m fine. Um… just felt suddenly… um… I-I don’t...” He looked down again, his panic attack not over. His body was tense, dead muscles coiled. A strangled kind of snarled whimper escaped his throat.

“Shh… it’s alright, Jasper. Ground yourself,” Eva said quietly. Her white hand appeared in his downcast field of vision as she touched the grass and the soil. “Think of the Earth. It has been here long before us, and will still be here long after we are dust.”

Jasper closed his eyes and nodded. He could feel the ground under his feet, under the soles of his boots. It felt good, at the moment. Stable. 

_This would be the worst time for an earthquake…_

Fortunately, the Earth remained still, calm, and steady.

“That does not mean we were insignificant,” Eva continued, her low, gentle voice washing over him like waves on a shore. Little by little, it eased his anxiety away. “Far from it. We have been given extra time here, to do with as we will, both good and bad.”

Jasper sighed, briefly forcing air in and out through his body. He growled faintly on the exhale.

“I’m proud of you, you know,” Eva told him. Her gentle touch landed on his shoulder in a soothing gesture.

Jasper frowned, squeezing his closed eyes and grinding his teeth together. “ _No, no, that can’t be right,”_ he thought. _“I’ve done nothing to make anyone proud. I’m a killer. I’m a monster. I’m worthless. I’m nothing. I’m…”_

“I know you haven’t had it easy this past year, but you have survived, and you keep surviving though… though I know you don’t always want to,” Eva said sadly. Jasper could feel her fingers on his shoulder, stroking him gently through his hoodie. “I am glad you have though. I would be very sad if you were gone.”

_"She doesn’t know. She doesn’t know the horrible things I’ve done. The horrible things I will keep doing. She doesn’t know. If she knew, she would hate me. She would shun me.”_

“You don’t have to look up, but think of the moon, watching over us,” Eva continued in the same soothing tone as before. “It has been there far longer than any of us and will still be there long after we are no more. Although it waxes and wanes it is never truly gone. It merely hides its face in shadow. It obfuscates. Do you know the dictionary definition of ‘obfuscate,’ Jasper?”

Jasper ran his tongue over his fangs. He knew what Eva was doing to try to calm and distract him… and it was working. His self-loathing, intrusive thoughts paused briefly as he answered her out loud. “To darken,” Jasper recited, trying not to snarl. “To… to hide or make obscure or unclear.”

“Yes.”

Jasper opened his eyes and looked at Eva’s lovely white face. She gave him the smallest of smiles and he found his lips twitching to mimic her. She looked sad and anxious for his well-being.

_“She cares about me…”_

“Are you alright?” she asked in a whisper, trying to assess his mental and emotional state.

Jasper nodded, trying hard to recover from his episode. “Yeah. Sorry.”

She shook her head slowly, her smile widening. _Silly boy._ “No need to be sorry.”

Jasper nodded. He took his hands away from his head and neck and rested his arms on his bent knees.

“I was going to say, if you still want to do this, I don’t _have_ to bite you to get your blood. There are other ways, and it’s entirely up to you. We don’t have to do this at all, if you don’t want to,” she assured him.

Jasper licked his fangs again. “No! No, I… I still want to. I want to learn Thaumaturgy.” He made eye contact with her. Eva’s eyes were so dark compared to the rest of her, but held a kindness she seemed to reserve only for him. “Will you still teach it to me? Please? I… I need to learn. Learning new things is what’s keeping me going and… and I really like learning with you. I have you to thank for… a lot.”

Eva nodded, watching his face, making sure he was really okay. He seemed to be improving, and so she consented. “Alright.”

“I swear by my Vitae, that I will not use any of the blood magic you teach me to harm an innocent person,” Jasper said seriously.

Eva’s hand moved to his. She held it gently and gave it a light squeeze. A soft smile appeared again on her pale lips. “Very well, Jasper. I’ll teach you.”

Jasper’s brain short-circuited a little, looking down at Eva’s hand in his. She didn’t care that his skin was dead and disgusting. It was like she didn’t notice it at all.

“T-tonight? Or…um... do you want to wait?” he asked.

She gave him another critical look over. “Are you alright to learn it tonight?”

Jasper nodded. There was a brightness in his eyes now that only happened when he was on the cusp of some great new mystery. “Yes.”

“In that case, tonight should be fine.”

They waited a beat, still holding hands, before Eva gave him another gentle squeeze and stood. Jasper rose back up to his feet and Eva let his hand go.

“Let me get my supplies,” Eva said. She cast her eyes upon the full Harvest Moon and Jasper thought he could hear a distant coyote howl. “Yes, this is a good night to do this,” Eva decided. She looked at Jasper again. “Wait here. I will return shortly.”

Jasper nodded and watched Eva leave around the back of the Observatory. He looked up at the moon as well. It was huge in the sky. Jasper hugged his arms around himself and cracked his back. His fangs itched in his mouth. Later, he promised himself, later tonight, or tomorrow night maybe, he would feed. Katia was still locked down below in his sanctum. Abrams told him last night she would be picked up next week. He didn’t know what would happen after that, or who he was going to feed from, but he wasn’t worried about that right now. He was too excited to learn from Eva.

Eva returned after a short while with two hand-made silver bowls and a thin blade with an intricate silver handle to match the scrawl work on the bowls. They shone in the October moonlight. Eva handed Jasper one of the vessels. He held it carefully, terrified of damaging it. The fear from his flashback was quickly fading. He watched Eva’s every move and hung onto her every word, thirsty for knowledge. 

“There are many different versions of performing this particular type of ritual,” Eva explained. “Some Kindred bite each other, some bite or cut themselves and feed the other, and some prefer to do it like this.” She nodded to the bowls. “I think that, in this instance, this will be the best way for us to do it, and the safest as well. All we have to do is fill the bowls with our Vitae, swap and drink. The _most_ important thing will be to make sure that your Vitae in the bowl is infused with the discipline. Otherwise… all we’re doing is swapping blood with um…” Eva faltered and bit her lip.

“Without the magic,” Jasper concluded. “Then it’s just… feeding.”

Eva nodded. “Yes,” she breathed. “As you know… sharing blood with another Kindred, especially willingly like this… it’s a big deal. What we are about to do should not be taken lightly.”

Jasper nodded, fully understanding the gravity of the situation.

“Alright. I am going to cut myself and fill this bowl, you may cut or bite yourself to fill that one. As you do, focus on your Obfuscate, how it feels to disappear, to be present but unseen. You must bleed with that intent. Clear?”

“Yes,” Jasper agreed. He took out his own knife and pulled up his sleeve.

Eva pressed the thin blade she held to her wrist and made a quick cut. Jasper did the same with his own blade to his wrist. As one, they willed their Vitae forwards and filled the silver bowls. The scent of vampire blood filled the air and Jasper snarled. Inside his chest, his Beast perked up and clawed at his throat. He glanced at Eva and saw an odd look of pleasure across her delicate features. She could smell the blood too, and it was as tempting to her as it was to him. In a moment, he was going to taste her Vitae and she his. Jasper felt a tiny thrill at the thought, but gritted his fangs against it and focused on the bowl and his blood.

_Obfuscate. Stand still and not be seen. Move with stealthy steps, invisible as the wind. To be outside someone's window, looking in, or in the room itself and no one knows. There one second and gone the next. They could look right in your direction and have no idea you are there. Hidden in plain sight. Unseen. Obscured. Darkened._

Jasper healed his cut when the bowl was full. His Vitae was dark in the moonlight. He watched as Eva did the same, muttering a few words to herself in Latin as she did so. Jasper’s spoken Latin was still a little rusty, but he definitely caught the word “ _sanguis_ ” - blood. Eva exhaled a long, slow breath and held her bowl of Vitae reverently out to Jasper. He took it and passed her his own at the same time.

“Allow me to go first?” Eva requested.

Jasper nodded. “Of course.” He glanced down at the bowl of Eva’s Vitae in his hands. It smelled intoxicating and divine. It made his Beast turn somersaults, or maybe that was the butterflies he suddenly felt in his stomach.

Eva slowly brought the bowl of Jasper’s blood to her lips and started to drink. Her eyelids fluttered closed as she gradually tipped the bowl up to a steeper and steeper angle, draining every drop. Jasper watched her, entranced. Eva shivered and lowered the bowl, licking scarlet off her lips. 

“Um…” Jasper swallowed, his throat dry and his Beast growling for attention. “H-how was it?”

“It was… good, Jasper…” Eva said slowly. She seemed lost in a brain fog of pleasure. “Very good. We will know in a few moments whether it worked to give me Obfuscate, but I think it did. You may now drink.”

Jasper slowly brought the bowl up and drank from it, trying to copy Eva’s actions. The moment her blood touched his tongue, he knew it was the best thing he had ever tasted and he would never, ever have enough of it. Her Vitae was sweet and floral. Immediately, Jasper could taste the power she had instilled in it. It was potent, like strong alcohol, and with a similar burn. This wasn’t like the Vitae he had tasted before from other Kindred. This was the Blood Magic he was taking into his body. The gift of the Tremere. He gulped down swallow after swallow, trying to take it slow and fighting his Beast on the issue. His Beast exalted, crying out for more. His veins pulsed. His hands trembled ever so slightly and he gripped the bowl harder as he drained the last few drops. All too soon, the bowl was empty. Jasper lowered it, licking his fangs.

Eva had been watching him. He wanted to blush, but his skin remained ashy and dead. “That was… amazing,” he confessed. There were not enough words to describe how he felt, and all the usual ones he could think of seemed too hollow. “Uh… thank you.” Jasper passed Eva back the empty silver bowl, trying to stop his hands from shaking. He didn’t feel _alive_ , exactly, but he could feel the new power in his body. His veins almost _tingled_.

Eva smiled at him warmly. Their fingers brushed against each other as she took the bowl. “That’s quite alright. Shall we test our new powers?”

Jasper nodded and grinned. “Want me to… teach you how to disappear?”

Eva set the bowl aside and covered up a little giggle. “If you have any tips, I’ll certainly hear them.”

“The easiest thing is to stand still in a dark place. So long as you don’t move or speak, you’ll be unseen, and it’s never made me hungry to do that. If you want to move though and still be unseen, that might rouse your Beast. Also… it doesn’t really block your sounds or um… smells.”

Eva nodded.

“And you can’t do it while someone is already watching you,” Jasper continued, “or at least, I can’t. I think some of the older Nosferatu can though.”

“I have no doubt they can. Let me try.”

Jasper looked away from her and counted to five. When he looked back to where Eva had been standing, she was gone. He glanced around to make sure and grinned again, flashing fangs. “I think it’s worked!” he chuckled.

A moment later, Eva moved and revealed herself. “Did it really, or were you just humouring me?” she asked, her eyes twinkling. 

“No, you were gone. Honest!”

Eva clasped her hands together in delight and for one brief moment, Jasper could picture her as a happy school girl, playing in the sun. “Thank you,” she said.

“It’s alright… you did this for me, remember?”

Eva beamed. “It’s worked out well for both of us, as all good boons should. Would you like to start to learn your first ritual?”

“Yes,” Jasper snarled with excitement.

“Learning rituals takes time and effort, but you have the first piece you need. Now, through my Vitae inside of you, you _can_ learn blood magic. We’ll start on something small.” Eva knelt and picked up a stone from the ground about the size of Jasper’s thumb. “This ritual is called Corrosive Vitae. It will eventually, on your command, turn your spilled blood into an acid strong enough to dissolve metal or stone.”

Jasper’s eyes widened. The potential uses for something like this were exciting to think about. It seemed like such a powerful spell too, and Eva was calling it ‘something small?’ He both dreaded and looked forward to learning what some of the bigger abilities might be.

Eva passed Jasper the stone. “Think about your blood. Concentrate on its power. Rouse your Beast and change the properties of the Vitae. This will take time and practice, but you can start now. Smear some of your blood onto the stone and try to make it dissolve.”

Jasper nodded and pricked his finger on the tip of his knife. He smeared a few drops of blood onto the stone in his hand, concentrating on his Beast and willing the blood magic to work. At first, nothing seemed to happen and Jasper frowned in disappointment.

That’s when the scent hit him again. It was Vitae, _his_ Vitae, but it was… hot? Jasper held the bloody stone up and examined it closely. There were tiny bubbles on the wet surface. He touched it with the tip of his finger and the Vitae was slightly warm and tingly to the touch. It was not anywhere close to what Jasper would call “corrosive,” but it was a start. He grinned at Eva, who smiled back with a little bit of pride.

“Well done,” she said.

“Thank you.”

It was to be the first of many lessons in Blood Sorcery she would teach him. He enjoyed every moment of it.


	13. Epilogue: November

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe reflects on the past year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing this epilogue was very difficult for me. I got very emotional and cried about five or six times during the whole writing and editing process for this bit. I've been told by my beta writer that she cried too. This is a first for me. I've cried at other people's fic before, but never my own. Any time there's any Jasper/Chloe stuff in the show, it seems to make me cry. It just has that magic way of pulling my heartstrings.
> 
> So... I hope you enjoy the end of this fic. This has been a labour of love for me and though I'm glad it's done, I'm also a little sad to finish it. Thank you for taking the time to read it and please feel free to leave a comment! It really makes my day to learn that someone enjoyed by writing. :)
> 
> POSTING EARLY due to popular demand on Alex Ward's Twitch!

The one year anniversary of Jasper Heartwood’s last day alive was uneventful. It was just an average Wednesday at Griffith College. Chloe Hudson was bundled up in a coat, scarf and gloves as she left the Grounds for Coffee cafe on campus to head back to her room. It was well after dark and she was mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted. It was getting chilly in mid-November. Not as chilly as it would be back in her home state, of course, but nature was still letting Chloe and everyone else know that winter was on its way.

It had been a difficult twelve months for her. Chloe missed Jasper terribly. They had been dating for over a year before he died. He was odd and mysterious, and her family didn’t approve of him, but to Chloe, he was the one she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. His absence from her life was like a wound in her heart. She missed how he would light up when it came to solving any kind of mystery. She missed how he wore black all the time, even in the hot California weather. She missed his kisses goodnight and snuggling up with him to watch horror movies. She missed his back rubs when she was stressed and massaging his back and scalp in kind until he fell asleep.

Chloe wasn’t looking forward to Thanksgiving or Christmas without him this year. She hadn’t looked forward to them last year either. 

Chloe had visited his grave today and left flowers. Her eyes stung with fresh tears as she thought of the small, lonely bouquet resting against the granite headstone. All of her hopes and dreams of a future with him ran through her head. They could have had a long life together. She could picture them getting married, not in any kind of big ceremony, but something small and private. Maybe have kids, maybe not. Jasper would have made a good dad. Chloe wanted to move with him back North-East, out of Los Angeles, and set up a little place somewhere quiet with a massive home library. They probably would have gotten a dog or a cat. Then, nothing left but to travel the world when they could afford it and grow old together.

She wiped her eyes and unlocked her door to get inside her warm dorm room.

She almost hadn’t come back to study here at Griffith again. She had been debating it all summer with her family. They wanted her to stay home, to go to school closer to them. "Los Angeles is too dangerous,” they said. “There’s all kinds of horrible people stalking that city at night.”

But Chloe felt like part of heart was pulling at her to be back in L.A., to be back at Griffith. It was where she felt close to Jasper… despite the fact that he was no longer with her.

Part of her still couldn't believe Jasper was gone. Just… here one day and gone the next. Disappeared over night. His wallet and phone were left untouched. His window was open and his bed sheets were disturbed. Nothing had been taken except for him. That was all. No one saw or heard anything. A missing person’s report had been filed, followed shortly after by a death certificate.

 _“Too soon after,”_ Chloe thought angrily, taking off her coat and shoving it onto a hook. _“ It doesn’t make sense! They never even found his body.”_

His family didn’t hang around for very long. They quickly went through his things, threw most of them away, held a funeral for Jasper, and then left. 

Now… Chloe was alone.

True, she had a base group of friends, but it was simply not the same without Jasper around. Chloe couldn't see herself keeping in contact with anyone she currently knew on campus after she graduated. None of them ‘got’ her like he had. She felt a little lost and directionless.

 _“Just… finish your journalism degree,”_ she told herself as she went to the bathroom and got ready for bed. _“Then you can travel and… move on.”_

But part of her didn’t _want_ to move on.

Part of her was still very deeply troubled.

_“None of it makes any sense! You can’t call off a missing person search that early and declare him dead without a body or no one coming forward to say what happened to him!”_

No one wanted to listen to her ramble on about it though. She had bored everyone enough with her ‘conspiracy theory.’ Chloe could still hear their voices.

_“He’s gone, honey. I’m sorry, but it’s time to move on…”_

_“It’s been six months…”_

_“It’s been like, eight months? More?”_

_“It’s been a long time…”_

_“It’s been almost a year…”_

She still had a folder with some of his missing person’s posters. She couldn't bring herself to throw them away.

Chloe got into sweat pants and a shirt for sleeping in, pausing to wipe tears away every few seconds. She blew her nose and when she went to toss the tissue in her bin, something caught her eye and made her pause. For one brief moment, Chloe thought she saw something move outside her window. She crossed the room, pulled back the blinds and looked out. The cold night wind was blowing a nearby tree. She could see palm trees blowing across the way. She shook her head sadly and wiped her eyes again on her sleeve. 

_“He’s gone, honey… time to move on…”_

_Time to move on…_

_Time to move on..._

Chloe bowed her head and turned away from the window, leaving the blind open for bow. Her resolve not to cry any more crumbled. She sat on the bed and dug out a photo of her and Jasper. Chloe had tricked him into smiling for a selfie by kissing his cheek right as she pressed the shutter. Her vision blurred with tears and she looked into his soft brown eyes. She hugged the framed picture to her chest, laying down on the bed. The dam broke and started to sob. She cried like the world was coming to an end.

It had been a hard twelve months for Chloe. The next twelve might get easier, or they might not.

Just outside her window, Jasper clung to the narrow ledge. He was safely cloaked in Obfuscate. He had followed Chloe home from the cafe. He watched now with enormous sadness as his grieving girlfriend sobbed alone on her bed. He blinked hard against his own tears. Jasper hated seeing her this upset. It ripped him apart inside, particularly because there was nothing he could do to make her feel better.

His phone vibrated silently in his pocket Jasper dug it out. There was a text in the coterie group chat from Victor.

‘Is everyone free for a meeting at 2:00? Need to go over details for new album launch party.’

Jasper growled to himself and rolled his eyes. He was obliged to go, though he didn’t want to.

‘Sure,’ he texted back.

Jasper put his phone away without waiting for any other replies and spied on Chloe again. She was still in bed, still weeping into her pillow. He put his hand to the glass of her window, stopping himself just short of touching it.

Jasper stayed at Chloe’s window, watching her, for a long time. Eventually, Chloe cried herself to sleep. He waited until he was certain she was unconscious and weighed his options. It was nearly time to go meet up with the coterie, but there was something he wanted to do, even though he knew he shouldn't.

 _“This is so stupid. I shouldn't do this,”_   he thought. But…

Carefully, slowly, so as not to make a sound, Jasper pulled open Chloe’s window. He slid his nimble body inside her room. His heavy boots tiptoed across the floor to her light switch. Chloe had left it on before she fell asleep, and Jasper turned it off. He hoped that she would assume that she had been so tired and upset that she forgot she had turned it off herself. He also made sure her door was locked. It was already, which was good.

Chloe stirred, whimpering softly and rolling over in her sleep. Jasper froze with his Cloak of Shadows and waited for her to settle. Once she did, and he was sure she was still sound asleep, he moved closer to her bed. 

Up close, she looked as heartbroken as he felt. Her cheeks were stained with tears and her face was blotchy from crying. Jasper gently draped an extra blanket over her sleeping body to keep her warm. He pressed two fingers to his lips, then ghosted them lightly over her hair. He was unable to give her a proper kiss goodnight, so this would have to do. He wiped away a blood tear that ran down his cheek before it could fall.

He wanted to do more, _so much more_ , but this was already too much of a Masquerade risk. Time to go. 

Jasper turned and crept out of the room back the way he came, making sure the window was quietly and firmly shut behind him. He gave her one last parting glance.

He wanted to say something, whisper it to the wind.

_Sleep well…_

_Good night…_

_I love you…_

_I miss you..._

_I’m so sorry…_

But he couldn't bring himself to say anything.

Jasper disappeared silently once again into the night, leaving Chloe to her dreams.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this fic. Please leave a comment or a kudos. Have a good night.


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